All Things ELCA...In One Tidy Package

ELCA eNewsletter • 2nd Semester 2022/2023

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par·tic·i·pa·tion

noun

an act or instance of participating
the fact of taking part, as in some action or attempt
a sharing, as in benefits

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Are you ALL IN yet?

Every gift makes a difference...

even the spare change in your sofa cushions

can make a difference.

BECAUSE our goal is simply to have 100% parent participation!

We care about the ELCA Fund

because it is so vitally beneficial:

• to our students in providing the best opportunities,

programs, teachers, equipment and facilities;

• and to our families in keeping the ELCA investment

as affordable as possible.

Your voluntary financial contribution:

• demonstrates your affinity for the ELCA mission and

• helps draw support from outside foundations and organizations

Please join us today in being ALL IN!

GIVE ONLINE NOW

ELCA is grateful for the faithful support of our Partners in Education!

If your business or company is interested in supporting ELCA by becoming a Partner in Ed for the 2022/2023 school year, please complete a Partner in Ed Form and return to the ELCA Advancement Office, Attn: Kim Smith.

Check out our current Partners in Ed at www.elcaonline.org/give.

Want to Know a Great Way to Share Your

LOVE for ELCA?

We appreciate your raving reviews on the following platforms; just click on each platform below to write your review.

Congratulations to the following

Students of the Month!

November SOM

1st and 2nd Grade:

Jace Copeny, Oliver Farrar, Godwin Ogunfuwa, Liam Walcott, Mia Bond, Ty’Vn Whigham, Cade Ivey

3rd and 4th Grade:

Ethan Vaccianna, Tashi Patel, Alyssa Fraley, Cassie Bastiani, Gavhyn Clark, Allison Brooks, Namah Desai

December SOM

1st Grade:

Levi Hamilton, Loyal Rowand, Charlotte Vaccianna

2nd Grade:

Christopher Guerrero, Lance Byrd, Jace Davis, Hope Shuaib

3rd Grade:

Theo Mack II, Siya Bhagat, Rylei Kelley

4th Grade:

Paisley Harris, Luke Payne, Cameron Bastiani, Farman Shah

January SOM

1st Grade:

Aryan Shah, Lei’iani Rice, Reece Brinson

2nd Grade:

George Owen, Stewart Brown, Carter Thrasher, Carter Matthews

3rd Grade:

Melissa Colley, Christelle Joseph, Landon Hill

4th Grade:

Omari Alexander, Moreno Burris, Charlie Owen, London Bassey

Spring {Fling} is in the Air

PTF would like to thank all of the talented students that participated in this year's Spring Fling t-shirt design contest.

This year's winner is Adiella Onyemenem!

Adiella will receive 2 homework passes, a free t-shirt, and free admission to Spring Fling!

Great job, Adiella!

The PTF will host the 2023 Spring Fling on Friday, April 21 from Noon 'til 3PM.

All students are dismissed by noon on that day. Ticket and shirt order forms will be available soon.

The Royal Affair was an Enchanted Evening

PTF would like to thank all who attended the Princess Date Night! It was a beautiful evening for our princesses and their special dates.

Check out the gallery of photos HERE.

UGANDA Team Serves in Namayemba

During the recent winter break, 30 ELCA students traveled to Uganda, Africa to serve the community of Namayemba. Specifically, the kids worked in a school and orphanage to assist with some practical needs therein. The boys were able to construct a fence around the perimeter of field which will be used for crops and livestock. The girls assisted in and out of the classroom. Some taught Bible lessons, some lead in music, some distributed clothing and shoes, some hosted a dance party and some took pictures of each child in the camp. Matthew 25:31-40 speaks of serving the poor and that action being a doorway to ministering the Gospel. Our students saw this passage come to life while at the school in Namayemba.

They also had the opportunity to visit Murchison Falls Safari. Their time driving through the savannah did not disappoint. It was filled with wonders and beauty that only our Creator God could design.

Check out all the photos at https://elcachargers.smugmug.com/2022-2023-World-Impact-Trips.

2023 STAR STUDENT and STAR TEACHER

The PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program honors Georgia’s highest achieving high school seniors and the teachers who have been most instrumental in their academic development.

ELCA's 2022/2023 STAR Student is Miller Doerr and he chose Mrs. Judith Lockhart as his STAR teacher. Miller is pictured with his parents (Stacy and Jennifer Doerr), HS Principal Kim Terrell, and Mrs. Lockhart at the STAR student reception hosted by the Henry County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, January 24. Miller is a "lifer" at ELCA and has attended ELCA since 1st grade.

Congratulations to you, both!

1st Semester HS HONOR ROLLS

A HONOR ROLL

A/B HONOR ROLL

1st Semester MS HONOR ROLLS

A HONOR ROLL

A/B HONOR ROLL

2nd Quarter ELEMENTARY HONOR ROLLS

A HONOR ROLL

A/B HONOR ROLL

Congratulations, Students,

for a job well done!

Zoe Purcaro Receives 4-Year

Full Ride Scholarship to Toccoa Falls College

"The Future Scholars competition is filled with interviews and activities that assess skills in leadership, community building, academic achievement, and integrity; the winner earns a 4-year full ride scholarship to TFC. Everything that I have learned at ELCA through academics theater, SGA, and mock trial equipped me to earn this scholarship, but ultimately, it was God working through me. I will be majoring in Music with a concentration in worship arts." ~Zoe Purcaro

Congratulations, Zoe!

Outstanding Members of the Class of 2023

Lily Wu

US Presidential Scholar Award State Finalist

Miller Doerr

National Merit Scholar Finalist

The following students have qualified as

Georgia Scholars

Melanie Collier

Miller Doerr

Katherine Spence

Sahil Trivedi

Lily Wu

Students in the ELCA Class of 2023 have earned $3,785,668.00 so far in scholarships (not including Hope/Zell scholarships). We look forward to seeing this impressive total grow.

ELCA has three Governor's Honors Program State Semifinalists. These students will compete against students from all over the state of Georgia for a spot as a GHP State Finalist. They await results from their interviews that took place on March 11 at Georgia Southern University.

Hannah Carlisle – Visual Arts

Chachi Corales – Social Studies

Jade Richardson – Visual Arts

Hannah Carlisle

Chachi Coraless

Jade Richardson

Stand-Out Citizenship

Congratulations to Mrs. Cary Davis, Miller Doerr, and Jesse Corso.

High School Social Studies teacher, Cary Davis, placed first at the local level in the 2022-2023 Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher Award Contest.

12^th grader, Miller Doerr, placed first at the local level for his essay submission in the Voice of Democracy contest. Miller’s essay will move forward, and he could ultimately compete at the National level of this competition.

12^th grader, Jesse Corso, placed second at the local level for his essay submission in the Voice of Democracy contest.

All three will be recognized on April 13 at the local VFW post in McDonough. We are very proud of their accomplishments!

Pet Rock(fest)

Sixth grade students recently created a pet rock and wrote stories about their pet traveling through the rock cycle. FUN!

Blockades, Blunders and Brilliancy

ELCA took 6 teams to the Regional Chess Tournament hosted by Creekside Christian Academy. Our high school A Team (Chase Howze, Luke Gross, Chan Meletio, Sahil Trivedi) placed third in the region, and one of the elementary teams (Hannah Capp, Ferrina Nguyen, Samantha Gaspard, Elizabeth Washington) placed as well. Both of these teams advanced to State competition. CONGRATS!!

The Mock Trial teams at ELCA have had a wonderful season with one team making an appearance at the State level of competition.

The law firms of McCord Law (Zac Balty), Lister, Holt and Dennis (Kim Gross) and Corales and Woody (Marco Corales) have been instrumental in helping our students prepare for Mock Trial this year through their donations of time, money and resources. Thank you so much!

ELCA boasts State-of-the-Art Fine Arts Labs

Visual Arts Labs

Olivia Naquin is using a Light Box as she puts the final touches on her 3D visual arts project.

Two art students having a little too much fun as they work collaboratively on a paper mache’ project. Students, if you’ve always wanted to dabble in the Visual Arts, now’s the time to sign up to take Compressive Art I ; as a class next fall.

Guitar Lab

Mr. Tucker is using some amazing technology to teach guitar to our middle and high school students, in our “state of the art” Guitar Lab. The music is projected onto a screen so that students can follow along as they perform as an ensemble. The students are all working on electric guitars for this particular music project. Students, if you’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar, now’s the time to sign up to take Guitar as a class next fall.

ELCA DRAMA DEPARTMENT performs at the GHSA

One-Act Play State Championship

The ELCA Drama Department ELCA gave their best performance of the year at the GHSA STATE ONE ACT PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP which was held at Warner Robins High School in November.

Two students made the GHSA State All Star Cast:

Miller Doerr

Kennedy Anthony

What an honor it was to get to perform at this level.

Wherefore Art Thou...

Middle and high school drama students had a magnificent time going to see Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare's Tavern in midtown Atlanta. It was an amazing performance!

Mr. Ekstedt would like to encourage all middle and high school students to sign up to take Stage Acting and Vocal Performance class next fall. Big plans are in the works for next year's stage shows.

Elementary Visual Arts

Elementary Art students are hard at work in Mrs. Jones 3rd Grade art

class. Students are working hard developing skills they'll need to

master in order to advance to the 4th Grade Art class. Students

studying Visual Arts at ELCA have so many wonderful resources available

to them. If you haven't taken a moment to stop in to tour our amazing

Elementary Visual Arts Lab, please take a moment to do so. There is some fabulous learning going on.

High School Art Students Have Big Heads

High School Art I students created “Big” heads in groups of either famous artists or Black History figures. See if you can guess who is who…

The Art II students were able to create anything they wanted out of paper mache. These are a few of the finished pieces.

We're proud of the hard work these kids put forth!

Guitar Ensemble Shares Christmas Cheer

Georgia Fastpitch All-State Game

The Atlanta Braves presented the Georgia Dugout Club All State Softball Game which was hosted at Truist Park on Sunday, November 13. Faith Rush was one of the 80 most elite high school softball seniors in Georgia who were invited to play their last game in their high school uniform. There were four games in total as well as a skills competition and awards ceremony.

Congrats, Faith!

Girls ALL-REGION Basketball Team

First Team All-Region - Kalia Green

Second Team All-Region - Caroline Buckley

All-Region Honorable Mention - Emma Whitlock

Boys ALL-REGION Basketball Team

First Team All-Region - Aaron Johnson

Second Team All-Region - Xavier Dotson

All-Region Honorable Mention - Benny He, Joseph Raines, Kam Warford

ALL-REGION 5-AA Football Honors

ELCA was represented well on this season’s All-Region 5-AA Football Team, led by senior Colton Hood.

Hood, a recent Auburn commit, was voted 5-AA Athlete of the Year by the region’s coaches after a stellar season at wide receiver and cornerback.

ELCA put four players on the first-team offense — quarterback Charlie Gilliam, wide receiver Jacque Holley and offensive linemen D.J. Chester and Chace Missouri.

The first-team defense featured ELCA’s Nick Lemons at defensive line, along with linebackers Malachi Futch and Trent Hood, and defensive backs Dorian Barney and R.J. Johnson.

ELCA’s second-team selections included running back Gavin Walker, wide receiver Dakota Hughley, offensive lineman Wilson Reagan, defensive lineman A.J. Washington, linebacker Josh Banks and kicker Matthew Johnson. Honorable mention players were tight end Carson Schuerman and defensive lineman Linton Basko.

Born to Compete (B2C)

was founded in 2008 by Alex Benson as an avenue to promote young athletes and their pursuit of playing sports at a higher level.

Congrats to Dorian Barney for being named the

B2C Defensive Back of the Year!

Youth Football Players are on their Way UP

Congratulations to the ELCA Chargers 10U Football Team on their 20-12 victory against the Thomaston-Upson Knights in the Southern Youth Football 10U Super Bowl Championship Game!

GO, CHARGERS!

Varsity Wrestlers Show up at State

Congratulations to the Varsity Wrestling team for a great season. They took 2nd place at the Area Tournament in February where 11 wrestlers qualified to compete at Sectionals. Area champs were Allen Calderon, Tucker Hardeman, Melbourne Brown ad Brandon Mancuso. At Sectionals, Mel Brown, Jack Shuler, Allen Calderon, Tucker Hardeman and Brandon Mancuso qualified for State competition.

At the GHSA State Wrestling Championship, Allen Calderon earned State Runner-Up, Tucker Hardeman placed 4th, and Jack Shuler placed 5th in the State!

Congrats to these guys and to the wrestling program at ELCA.

Middle School Girls' Basketball

Celebrates Amazing Season

The middle school girl's basketball team finished the season undefeated with a record of 15-0 and winning two tournaments! Way to go, Girls!

English Literary Figures

Welcome Rising 9th Graders

The high school English department represented authors and literary characters during the recent rising 9th grade registration night. Ms. King was from Narnia, Mrs. Bragg was Lorraine Hansberry, Mrs. Godwin was Miss Marpole, Mrs. McNeight was Emily Dickinson, and Dr. Balty was Sherlock Holmes.

The Spanish department also got into the spirit with traditional hispanic dress.

What better way to say, "WELCOME TO HIGH SCHOOL!"

They Call it "Tough Man Tuesday"

Good fun, good fellowship, and some bad basketball...

Caley Ingram • Class of 2021

Samford Ragland Scholar

Tipping the Hat to ELCA Fine Arts

"Growing up I was always involved in sports, and it didn't matter the season. I never imagined in my entire life that I would end up pursuing music full time. I grew up having dreams of going to play college football and go on to play in the NFL. Senior year I experienced an injury that was reoccurring during my time in college. During those times away from football I fell in love with making music; but i remembered why I loved music in the first place in those times. Looking back at my time at ELCA, there were two teacher who really formed my love for music. Those teachers were Mr. Davis and Mr. Joe Tucker. I took band with Mr. Davis in 6th grade and I took guitar with Mr. Tucker my senior year in high school. Mr. Joe had a huge impact on my love for music during my injury, since music was about all I was able to do after my surgery. When I went to college I had two more surgeries and remembered my time in Mr. Joe’s class. Music ended up taking up all of my free time and now I am able to do music full time as my career. Without ELCA’s fine arts program; I may have never got into music and realize my true love." ~ Sean Queen, Class of 2018

Keaton Mitchell shines at NFL Combine

Class of 2020 alum, Keaton Mitchell was impressive at the NFL Scouting Combine on Sunday, March 5 in Indianapolis. Expressing his talents in speed, vertical leap, broad jump only confirmed his game-changing plays made during his college career with the East Carolina Pirates. He is expected to be drafted on day 3 of the upcoming NFL Draft. Way to go, Keaton! READ MORE

Khaleb Hood earns Sun Belt Conference Honors

ELCA class of 2018a grad Khaleb Hood, a senior wide receiver at Georgia Southern, was a second-team selection on the All-Sun Belt Conference Football Team released this week.

It is the third straight season the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder has earned All-Sun Belt honors.

KJ Jones • Class of 2019

alum and current Emmanuel University All-American

was recently celebrated for scoring his 2000th career point.

He is just the 3rd person in Emmanuel history to achieve this feat.

Saying Farewell to a Charger

"Big Earl" Parker

8.28.70 • 12.1.22

Ernest Earl Parker, Jr., was an unforgettable man who touched the lives of every person with whom he came into contact. Earl spread kindness, goodness, and his love of God to all he met and formed a lasting impression of a big man with an even bigger heart.

After graduating from Meadow Creek Academy in 1988, Earl was honored to receive a scholarship to play football for The University of Georgia Bulldogs. This was a culmination of his lifelong dream for Earl because he had always been an outstanding athlete, not only in football, but also in baseball, basketball, track, and men’s softball. Earl’s impeccable integrity, sense of fair play, and faith in God earned him the admiration of his teammates, coaches, and fans.