Friday, September 28 was a special homecoming for Westminster Catawba Christian School as we celebrated our past, present and future with current families, alumni, faculty, staff and alumni parents. The 2012-2013 school year marks the 20th anniversary of the merger between the Catawba Academy and Westminster Christian School and the 40th anniversary of the first graduating class of the Catawba Academy in 1973. Alumni came out in record numbers to celebrate the anniversary year, mingle with their former classmates and enjoy the game.

WCCS recognized alumni with a special reception before the game, providing an opportunity for former students to mingle with classmates, administrators and teachers. They were also given an opportunity to take a tour and see the many changes and improvements the school has made throughout the years.

It was an honor to have former WCCS homecoming queens come out and join us on the field during the halftime presentation.

Many thanks to Andy Gill, class of 1973, and Kevin Crook, class of 1993, who presented the game ball and coin toss for the game.

Previous homecoming queens, chorus and band members were also invited on to the field to participate in the homecoming festivities along with Andy Gill, Class of 1973 and Kevin Crook, class of 1993 who presented the game ball and participated in the coin toss. It was a night of celebration for the school both for current and past students, as the WCCS Varsity Football Team took home the victory against Forsyth Country Day, 40-13. A great time of fellowship and reconnecting was enjoyed by all.

Special recognition was given to several alumni for educational, career and/or life accomplishments. These alumni were presented with a space on the school's Wall of Honor, a new addition that will be on display at the Catawba Campus, made possible through the generosity of the Westminster Ministries Foundation. This will highlight alumni who have outstanding achievement in their fields or vibrant service to the community.  

The following alumni were recognized:

Suzy Coblentz '07

Dayton, OH (and Around the World)

Application Engineer, Esko

Mollye Crowell '02

Greenville, SC

Art Teacher, Greenbrier Elementary School

Lexington Park, MD

Flight Test Engineer, NAVAIR, Patuxent River Naval Air Station

Erin Simpson Lozier '98

Washington, D.C.

Food Editor, Better Homes and Gardens Magazine    

Kyle Waddell, Sr. '89

Savannah, GA

Senior Pastor, Chevis Oaks Baptist Church    

Gary Simrill '84

Rock Hill, SC

Owner, Carolina Motorworks and Member, SC House of Representatives, District 46    

Nancy Ruth Powell Busovne '80

Carolina Beach, NC

NC Wildlife Endangered Species Permit Holder/Coordinator, Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project

Chester, SC

Owner, F. Guy Darby and Son Farm, Founder and President, Darby Oil Inc., Founder, High Cotton Classic

To read full bios and see pictures of distinguished alumni, click here! Do you know an alum that you would like to nominate for the Wall of Honor? You can nominate him or her here!  

Also, if you missed Ray Casey's promotion of Homecoming on Straight Talk with Manning Kimmel on WRHI, you can still listen at the link provided below!

http://www.wrhi.com/2012/09/straight-talk-092612-ray-casey-65009 

On Monday, September 24, WCCS hosted 15 Chinese school administrators who came to the U.S. to tour several schools. While here, they took a tour of the campus and attended a reception in their honor. The goal of our growing international student program is to enrich the lives of not only the international students but also our own students and families in the WCCS community.  

"We believe that by opening our doors to these students, a more enriching learning experience will be created for everyone in which learning and sharing take on new meaning and opportunity in the classroom. Our international students will add diversity to our school community and inspire our students to think globally," shares Ray Casey.

If you are interested in learning more about how your family can be involved in hosting an international student for the coming school year, please contact our homestay coordinator, Amy Wurthmann, at amy.wurthmann@yahoo.com.   

Steve Moore, Board Chairman

We are off to a great start for the 2012 - 2013 school year. What a joy it has been to work with our new Board members, John Haley, Charlie Westbrook and Bryan Pressley. These men are a great addition to the WCCS Board. I know a lot of hard work went into the Homecoming & Alumni celebration a few weeks ago. All that hard work paid off with a great week.

Earlier this month the Board, Leadership Team and spouses had a cookout at the Barnes' River House. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with some good food!

Ray and Esther Casey with Steve and Beth Moore

Billy  and Teressa Fisher and Amy and John Haley.

The Board is underway working on two items that need our attention. First, the Board's 2008 Strategic Plan with 9 initiatives needs to be reviewed and revised. We want to make sure our Strategic Plan is in line with the Administration's values, vision and mission and the ACSI Continuous School Improvement Plan. Steve Kane, the Board's Vice Chairman, is doing some preliminary work and identifying the team that will be working on this item. Once the team is in place, they will be reporting back to the Board in the next few months on progress. Second, the Finance Committee is doing some preliminary work on enrollment trends. The Committee will be reporting back to the Board on their findings and recommendations for a team to complete the work on this item.

Let us all celebrate the great start to the 2012-2013 school year. I thank God for what He is doing through the ministry of WCCS.

This month we would like to introduce you to Charlie Westbrook, Jr. who is starting his first year on the WCCS board.

Charlie is employed at Resolute Forest Products where he has worked for 25 years. He is married to Susan and they have two children Charlie III who is a senior, and Bailey who is a ninth grader at WCCS. Charlie and his family own and operate Cherry Place Farm in Rock Hill. Charlie, Susan,Charlie III and Bailey are members of Mount Holly United Methodist Church.

THANK YOU! Through sales of the GO Cards, you have raised $9,800 towards Teacher Appreciation for the school year. These monies will be used to fund gifts for our Faculty/Staff for their birthdays, Christmas and Teacher Appreciation.  (Last year, we raised $5,700 through the Cookie Dough Fundraiser.)

However, we still have the potential to raise more!  Through Christmas, we can still sell GO Cards for $10 each...so if you need a birthday gift or Christmas gift (these make great stocking stuffers), the cards are available at the school offices on either campus.

Congratulations to the following students and homerooms:

Westminster Campus                     

Kendall Parsons (5th grade), 1st place

Rob Martin, (4th grade), 2nd place

Mrs. Forster's 5th grade class was the winning homeroom with 132 GO Cards sold...they win a party of their choosing some time during the school year!

Catawba Campus                              

Mr. Aylestock's 8th grade homeroom won a Cook out at an upcoming Football game!

Now that the 1st quarter has come to a close, a review of the past two months reveals several noteworthy events that characterized the beginning of our new school year. First of all, the quarter itself has been a good one: smooth start, great atmosphere, and lots of positive energy. From the class retreats, to Homecoming, to the excitement of planning the year ahead with students, parents, and teachers, the prevailing tone has been one of eagerness and accomplishment.

A number of our WCCS students attended the NACAAP Christian College Fair on October 1 that was held at Charlotte Christian School. It's a blessing to be able to partner with other Christian schools in providing this type of opportunity for our students to become acquainted with a large number of Christian colleges and universities as they consider their post high school plans.

This past quarter students of the WCCS Service Initiative participated in two community service project. On Friday, October 12, the Initiative coordinated our first blood drive of the year. We partnered with the Community Blood Centers of the Carolinas, which supplies blood to many of our area hospitals. Faculty, staff, and other members of our WCCS community donated that day.

Thank you to all our students who participated in the Rolling in Rock Hill event on Saturday, September 15.

For the second consecutive year, the WCCS Service Initiative participated in Rolling in Rock Hill. Rolling in Rock Hill is an annual community event coordinated by the city in which various groups and organizations offer their talent and time to paint homes in the city that are in serious need of a new coat of paint. The city selects the homes and then assigns one to each of the groups. On Saturday, September 15, our 25+ students and adult volunteers prepped and painted a home in less than 5 hours! The homeowner, a longtime resident of her neighborhood, was extremely blessed and appreciative.

Favorite Movie/TV Character Day

Students showing their patriotism on 'Merica Day!

Do you recognize these teachers? It's Dr. Davis, Mr. Krueger and Mrs. Enns!

The Homecoming Parade

Mr. Falde pulled a float for the parade with his tractor.

Homecoming this year took place on Friday, September 28 and was preceded by an active and exciting Spirit Week. The Homecoming itself was both energetic and nostalgic as we focused on celebrating the 20th & 40th anniversaries of the Catawba School and WCCS. Extra effort was made to welcome and honor all of our alumni, and many of them were included in the activities involved in our Homecoming celebration. The Homecoming court this year was comprised of the following students:

Westminster Campus Prince & Princess: Peyton Campbell and Gianna Focacci; Catawba Campus Prince & Princess: Patrick Casey & Ruby Wang; Homecoming King & Queen: Charlie Westbrook & Nikki Cotten.

The Catawba Campus fall book fair will be held on Monday, October 29 through Friday, November 2 in the Library Media Center. Proceeds will benefit the WCCS Library Media Center! Please come out and support our media centers during this great event. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Debbie Pearce on the Catawba Campus at 328.5469 or Julie Weldon on the Westminster Campus at 325.6759.  

Regular Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Parents of all of our students are encouraged to come by and shop at any time.  

On a final note, this month most of our high school students were involved in standardized testing as all the juniors and freshmen took the PSAT and all the sophomores took the PLAN on Wednesday, October 17. This is just one of the many steps we take in preparing our students for collegiate success and in assessing our college-prep program.

Great work cheerleaders!

The WCCS varsity cheerleaders recently competed in several cheerleading competitions. The team participated in the Fort Mill Invitational September 26 hosted by Fort Mill High school and took home second place. On October 6, the team participated in the Trojan Invitational hosted by Northwestern High School and brought home 2nd place and on Saturday, October 13, they placed first place in the Falcon Invitational hosted by Nation Ford High.   

Congratulations, Nate Casey and Jake Wentworth.

Keeping with recent WCCS tradition, two members of the varsity football team have been selected to participate in the 2012 Oasis All - Star Shrine Classic. Senior captains Nate Casey and Jake Wentworth received the honor to represent WCCS in next month's showdown of the North and South Carolina independent schools. The Oasis All - Star Group is committed to recognizing student athletes for their accomplishments both on and off the field.

The JV varsity volleyball team finished their season undefeated!

The JV Volleyball team won the Southlake Christian Academy volleyball tournament!

Congratulations to the junior varsity volleyball team for winning the SouthLake Christian Academy Volleyball Tournament! The team finished the regular season undefeated and handily won the post-season tournament. Members of the team include Brooklyn Adkins, Lucia Navarro, Karsyn Bartruff, Amber Epps, Sara Beth Jordan, Katie Oliver, Kinsey Russo, Anna O'Brien, Sunni Baker, Keilah Shannon, and Grace Walker.  WAY TO GO LADY INDIANS!  

The varsity volleyball team finished their regular season tied for second place.

Congratulations to the varsity volleyball team for finishing the regular season tied for second place. The team hosted Gaston Christian in the opening round of the MAC tournament and won in straight sets. In the semi-final round, the Lady Indians defeated Hickory Grove to advance to the championship match for the first time in school history. The championship match pitted the Lady Indians versus Covenant Day School. In a hard fought match, the Lady Indians fell short in their bid. We celebrate their success and look forward to the NCISAA state tournament which begins in two weeks.

Summerlyn Carruthers, Hunter Moxley and Emily Oliver - MAC All-Conference selected players

Selected as MAC All - Conference players were Hunter Moxley, Sumerlyn Carruthers, and Emily Oliver. These ladies were introduced and honored between matches October 11 at Gaston Christian School.

Congratulations to the following WCCS Cross Country runners for qualifying for the NCISAA state meet: Faith Henderson, Kara Shannon, Kelsie Fields, Nikki Cotton, Carly Setzer, Lauren Owens, Elizabeth Jennings, William Noblett, Jonathan Setzer, Jacob Haley, Rob O'Neal, Drew Clark, Jack Jordan, Ryan Sheley, and Kyle Hensley.

Congratulations to the middle school soccer team for finishing the season with a 7-3 record. The team out-scored their opponents 32 - 9. Leading the team in scoring were Blake Baker and Will Martin. Leading the team with assists were Blake Baker, Wyatt Kirk, and Christopher Pickel. Way to go Indian soccer team!    

Fall is a special time in kindergarten!

Fall has come to the kindergarten. You can see scarecrows and fall leaves decorating the room as we talk about the seasons. We performed Smokey, the Bear for our parents as the children played the parts of forest animals, trees, and fire. Parents came in to have conferences and hear about the progress of their children. At the end of the month we will have pumpkin week and have special pumpkin snacks. The unit will end with a trip to Bush n Vine to see the life cycle of pumpkins growing in the field.

4K students and families had a great time at the Triangle Parade!

On Friday, October 5, the 4K Preschool students celebrated the conclusion of their math unit of study about triangles with a parade!  The students wore triangle hats and vests and played intruments, or carried flags as they paraded around the Westminster gym to the delight of the clapping audience of parents and WCCS students.  The class pulled a float decorated with balloons, a giant triangle, and flags created by each of the students. Leading the parade were two students carrying a huge banner of hand prints that read, "God Made Me Special."  Each preschooler felt very proud to be a part of this all school event.  

Students are enjoying and learning a lot from the Rosetta Stone language program that was implemented this year.

Students have been actively engaging in our new language program - Rosetta Stone. Submersion is the key to this learning concept - every interaction with the student is done in the language they are studying including the instructions. Students are given a wide variety of learning concepts - vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and spelling. They hear the language as well as seeing the words, picture examples, and presented with a variety of choices to learn the correct answers. Through the interactive program they also get to speak to the computer and be corrected on their pronunciation. Surprisingly, even our kindergartners have done well with this concept and many are beginning to learn the language of their choice. Students had the opportunity to pick between Spanish, French, German, and Mandarin Chinese. One of the great features about this online based program is that the students have the opportunity to work on this from home if they desire and many have been excited about doing so. Rosetta has been a great alternative to a traditional learning environment and has given WCCS the ability to offer a variety of language choices. Even some of our teachers have taken advantage of the school's program and are expanding their language learning. Parents we encourage you to do this program online with your kids and learn along with them. It can be a fun opportunity for you to connect with your child and to do something educationally together.

The fall Book Fair at WCCS will take place Monday, October 29 through Friday, November 2. The fair will feature a wide selection of books and educational products, including children's classics, award-winners, and newly released titles. A portion of the fair proceeds will be used to support WCCS media services. This is an excellent opportunity for families to purchase great books for their personal collections or to buy holiday gifts for friends. There will also be wish lists available from the classroom teachers if you would like to buy books for their classroom libraries. Parents, teachers, students, and friends are invited to attend!

What's in a name? Answer-A LOT! Because of this, and in prayerful consideration of WCCS's vision statement and core values, we are excited to introduce EXCEL, the new name for the student support program we offer at WCCS! (formerly known as STAR) We have chosen EXCEL because we feel that the support offered in our program helps promotes growth in every student; excelling them to reach their God-given potential. WCCS faculty, working alongside EXCEL staff, meets the students where they are and excels them forward from there. That might mean that we help them overcome obstacles like learning disabilities and ADHD. That might also mean that we search for ways to engage students with more critical thinking opportunities. We thank you for your support and encouragement as the EXCEL program continues to evolve, "celebrating the image of God in every person, nurturing the heart, educating the mind, and inspiring the pursuit of God's unique purpose" in every student at Westminster Catawba Christian School.