Million Word Readers

Congratulations Million Word Readers

The following students have read over 2,000,000 words:  Graym Brown, Colton Jorgensen, and Audrey Myers.

These students have read 1,000,000 words or more:  Sydney Bullard (not pictured), Caroline Grinstead, Ethan Lodge, T.J. Satterly, and Hannah Wade.

Hundred Point Club

Way to Go Hundred Point Club!!!

Graym Brown and Colton Jorgensen have earned over 300 AR Points this year.   Ethan Lodge and Audrey Myers have earned over 200 AR Points to date.  The following students have earned 100 points or more:  Angela Benedict, Sydney Bullard (not pictured), Elena Cruz, James Dukes, Caroline Grinstead, Jayna Jadotte, Carsen Kimbrough, T.J. Satterly, Joey Steele, and Hannah Wade.

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HARVESTER SENIORS

Harvester Christian Academy is proud to announce the following acceptances for our seniors: 

Kayla Arnold – Brewton Parker College, Georgia Southern University, Berry College, Agnes Scott College

Maya Besong – Brenau University, Gainesville State College, Southwestern University, Georgia Southern University

Keith Blankenship – Georgia Southern University, Kennesaw State University

Andrew Boyer – Kings College, Auburn University, LaGrange College, Oglethorpe University, Mercer University, Georgia State University, Hampden-Sydney University, St. Johns University

Annah Griffin – University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, University of South Carolina

Cam Harbison – Full Sail University

Tyler Johns – Auburn University, Mercer University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Lindsey Kadel – University of West Georgia, Young Harris College, Shorter University

Erica Keum – Emory at Oxford, State University of New York, Indiana University

Zack Lee – University of West Georgia, Reinhardt University, University of Alabama, Hampden Sydney College, Valdosta State University, Young Harris College

Josh Leonard – Kennesaw State University, Shorter University, Young Harris College

Brooke Maupin – Kennesaw State University

ChristalMcCamy – University of Alabama, University of Georgia

Sarah Rucker – Savannah College of Art and Design, SCAD, University of Alabama, Georgia Southern University

Maggie Satterly – University of Alabama at Birmingham, Georgia Southern University, University of Kentucky

Jake Shelton – University of Alabama , University of West Georgia, University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University

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On the featured display was a new book by sportswriter Gene Wojciechowski – The Last Great Game:  Duke v. Kentucky: How 2.1 Seconds Changed College Basketball.  The book was about the 1992 NCAA Tournament East Regional Championship game – the winner was headed to the Final Four.  I watched the game in my brother-in-law’s basement on the big screen and I still remember celebrating Sean Wood’s runner and screaming “put a man on the ball” as Christian Laettner took an 80 foot pass and drained a turnaround jumper at the horn giving Duke a 105-104 victory and giving CBS Sports an eternal highlight for college basketball.

But, the book isn’t so much about the game.  It is about the teams, coaches, players, and programs and how they took such divergent paths to meet in the Spectrum in Philadelphia that day.  One facet of that game was the motley collection of players wearing Kentucky Blue that day – a team that has been daubed the Unforgettables in Kentucky lore.

A couple of weekends ago, I had the privilege of taking my son to a University of Kentucky basketball game.  As we stood in Rupp Arena an hour before tipoff just to enjoy the scene, I considered the banners hanging from the ceiling – the retired jerseys, the championships, and the storied history.  There have been some beloved teams in Kentucky basketball’s rich history – Rupp’s Runts, the Fiddlin’ Five, the 2006 National Championship team are just a few – but none are as well loved as the Unforgettables.

The team’s four seniors (three were from small towns in Kentucky) stayed through two years of probation when most of the roster transferred.  They were too small or too slow or too something to play at Kentucky but they displayed courage and heart.  They came to UK as afterthoughts – Kentucky boys grow up dreaming of playing for the Big Blue – who didn’t expect to play much.  They stayed the course and endured one-sided losses and a demanding new coach because they understood that they were helping to rebuild a great program.  They got in great shape and became better than anyone thought possible and they took a vastly superior Duke team right to the limit.

The year’s Harvester Boy’s Varsity Team reminds me of Richie Farmer, Deron Feldhaus, Sean Woods, and John Pelphry – the Unforgettables.  A new coach and a short roster – they played all season with 7 players.  They never quit.  While they scored fewer points than their opponents in all but two games – they never really lost any.  Their effort, determination, and commitment to each other often gave the other team pause.  They were physically outmatched on the court every night but never were they outmatched in character and resolve.  This team sacrificed to lay a foundation for a program.  They are blazing a trail for others to follow.  I suspect by the time they are seniors, they will experience their share of wins as well.  This has been a season to remember – truly unforgettable.  Harvester’s Unforgettables – Brix Berry, Kristaps Dickinson, Orrie Tobin, Joel McManus, Jay Adair, and Trevor Prevatt, have given us a season to remember.

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2.1.12   Harvester 2011 Valedictorian Kelsey Dobbs continues to excel while serving others as a college student at Auburn University.  Still seeking to improve the world around her, Miss Dobbs was involved in two Feed the Hungry food drives for underprivileged families in her area and a Support the Troops campaign to gather and send comfort items for military personnel overseas.

Volleyball MVP while at HCA, Kelsey Dobbs became an official member of the Auburn volleyball roster as of January 1, 2012.  Balancing academics and athletics has proved challenging, but for Kelsey is a dream come true.  Having the opportunity to play at a Division I school is quite an accomplishment for this Harvester graduate.

The all-around dedication is obvious academically as well as Kelsey brought home a 4.0 GPA for the fall semester.  She has the distinction of being ranked the top female in the class of 273 Auburn University pre-med chemistry students.  She performed so well that her chemistry professor allowed her to exempt the final exam.

Kelsey Dobbs has the long range goal of a doctorate in Pharmacy and is well on her way to achieving that.  She hopes to intern this coming summer in the Douglasville community.  Congratulations Kelsey from your Harvester family!

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January 25, 2012.  Among the best privileges of my career is participating in the Van Lunen Center’s Executive Management for Christian Schools.  Twenty-four Christian School leaders gathered at Calvin College last July for our first week together.  We began as strangers and departed as close friends.  Last week we reconvened in Scottsdale, AZ, for another week of study, prayer, and laughter.   After climbing Camelback Mountain, enjoying after-hours fellowship at the local cantina, learning from the genius of John Cissell and the faculty, and being engaged by the never-ending joy of David Hahn, we left as an even closer group than before.  While being in Arizona during January is certainly among the benefits of being a Van Lunen Fellow, that pales in comparison to the relationships and the content.  Our worship times were also exceptionally rich during this particular week.

Beginning with the plane ride home, processing began and will continue for a while.  It may take until our next meeting in July to even read all the material provided.  We considered big ideas such as sustainable business models for private schools, marketing strategies, conflict resolution, and the implications of serving a new generation of parents and students.

Yet two things that continue to cycle through my thoughts happened on our last day … Having been provided an opportunity for prayer and reflection, I walked around the desert labyrinth in the Franciscan Retreat Center praying and gazing at the landscape.  Having never been to the southwest before, I was taken by the terrain and its features.  The great desert of the southwest stands in a stark contrast to the great forest of the southeast, or the great plains of the Midwest, or even the great mountains of the west.  The diversity of the creation struck me as a reflection of the amazing depth and breadth of our God.  He is vast and detailed – creating amazing things.  What is man that you are mindful of him?  Somehow seeing that brought assurance – we have a really big God!

The other was prompted by John Blumenstein’s parting thought (he is one of our faculty members) as he shared Proverbs 14:4 – “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty” (or tidy is another translation).  Ordinarily I don’t think of myself as an ox (however other animals do come to mind) but the notion is that education, people, relationships, schools, students, and parents is a messy business.  If our manger (school) is empty, then we aren’t really accomplishing much.  It was a reminder that Christian school work is a challenging affair (and no I didn’t call you an ox either).

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Van Lunen program and look forward to our next meeting in July which fortunately is not in Arizona in the summer dry heat or not and can’t wait to see what God does in the meantime.

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Luke Eichelkraut, Class of 2010, earned the distinction of Faculty Honors for fall 2011 at Georgia Institute of Technology.  Luke earned a 4.0 academic average for the semester to gain this honor.  Michael Forlaw, Class of 2007, made the Dean’s List for the Fall 2011 semester.  Undergraduate students earning a 3.00 or higher academic average for the semester gain the distinction of being named to the Dean’s List at Georgia Tech.  The Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, is one of the nation’s leading research universities, providing a focused, technologically based education to more than 18,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Georgia Tech has many nationally recognized programs, all top ranked by peers and publications alike, and is ranked in the nation’s top ten public universities by U.S. News and World Report.

Caitlyn Duvall, Class of 2008, completed courses with exemplary marks and made the Dean’s List for 2011 fall semester at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Ga., announced Interim President Stas Preczewski. Georgia College, the state’s designated Public Liberal Arts University, combines the educational experience expected at esteemed private liberal arts colleges with the affordability of public higher education. Its four colleges – arts and sciences, business, education and health sciences – provide 6,600 undergraduate and graduate students with an exceptional learning environment that extends beyond the classroom, with hands-on involvement with faculty research, community service, residential learning communities, study abroad and myriad internships.

We are proud of our Harvester graduates for their achievements at these highly respected universities.

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12.21.2011

Jessica Saylors, with the help of students at Harvester Christian Academy, raised over $400 in honor of a Georgia child who died of mitochondrial disease in 2009.  Brody’s Dream is an ongoing fundraiser at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Scottish Rite, to build a playground in this child’s  memory.

Harvester designated two days in December when students paid $1 and wore school spirit clothes and jeans to raise money for this worthy cause.  The money raised through Brody’s Dream will fund the building of a playground where kids with complex and serious medical issues can play freely without restrictions.
Saylors reports that HCA is the first group outside of the hospital network to participate in this project.

Artist renderings of the playground were revealed in late December. Jessica Saylors attended that ceremony and presented the check from money raised by HCA students to Brody’s mother, Kristi Cole, during the ceremony.  Jessica was thrilled to be one of the first to see drawings of the proposed playground.  Another fundraiser at Harvester is in the works for February.

Photo – L-R: Terilyn Walton (CHOA Foundation), Kristi Cole (Brody’s Mom), Jessica Saylors (HCA), Denise Swords (Vice President of Operations, CHOA Scottish Rite)

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HCA Beta Club Students

12.8.2011

Beta Club members spearheaded a drive at HCA for students to donate necessary items for a Christmas “shoebox” in conjunction with the international relief organization’s Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child program.  Students worked during the month of November putting out the word with a goal of collecting 400 shoeboxes.

Harvester students from all grades contributed boxes that will go to needy children all over the world.  Basic items such as a toothbrush, comb and soap were included, along with toys, school supplies, stuffed animals and small clothing items. Sophomore students worked together as a class to make several boxes and
included a class photo and a personal note in each of their boxes.  “It is humbling to think that children don’t have these items that we take for granted, but more exciting to imagine their faces when they see the stuffed bear or markers after they unwrap a box,” said sophomore Kassie Satterly.

Collecting shoeboxes each year has been a long-standing project for the school.  “For seventeen years HCA has participated in Operation Christmas Child.  HCA has filled, collected and sent thousands of shoeboxes during that time.  We are thrilled to exceed our goal this year,” reported Shari Whittle, this year’s adult sponsor. Students collected and counted boxes the week before Thanksgiving.  Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes contributed by Harvester students went to minister to children in Haiti.

Photo: seated – Becca Whittle,Josh Leonard, Brooke Maupin, Keith Blankenship, Kayla Arnold, Devyn Springer, Josh Townsend, Alicia Sipe,
front – Annah Griffin & Andrew Boyer

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January 2, 2012.  Timing is everything they say.  Gandoff in Lord of the Rings tells us that wizards are never late or early, they are always on time.  Personally, I like to be on time.  In fact, I am one of those folks who believe that early is really on time.  I do not like to be late.  I don’t think that makes me a wizard, just a little too focused on that invention of the industrial revolution – the clock.  Which, in turn, provides an area for sanctification, especially as I fret others inattention to time.

I suspect that there is wisdom in considering the benefit of impeccable timing.  A joke doesn’t work without the properly delivered and timed punch line.  Music sounds out of sync without appropriate timing – and I should know because I really don’t have any sense of musical timing.  Our cars have timing belts – not exactly sure what they do but they don’t work without them.  Plans fall into place as the result of perfect timing.  When timing works, it is a beautiful thing.  It brings about harmony and melody.  Stuff works as it is supposed to work.   As Hannibal Smith of the A-Team says, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Sometimes my timing is off – especially when I try to keep pace with music or when I try to engage relationally.  It makes things awkward when my timing is poor and I often worry about timing things well.  Sometimes it works and others it doesn’t, but I take great comfort in this – God’s timing is never wrong, it is always perfect.  That is part of His nature – He is sovereign.  Timing is one part of the miracle of Christmas.  Historians remind us that the period called the Pax Romana provided the perfect setting for the coming of the Messiah.  We are told that Jesus’ birth was foretold by the prophets and that all of these matters were completely fulfilled in His coming.

Yet consider the words of the apostle Paul as he wrote to the church in Galatia about God’s sense of timing … “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (4:4-5).”  This is the gospel.  There is power in timing, when it is God’s timing.  These verses capture the miracle of Christmas and proclaim the truth of the gospel.

Perhaps as we turn the calendar to a new year, we should rest in God’s timing and ponder the wonder of His gospel for us.

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11.17.11  Senior Maggie Satterly had lunch with University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto in Atlanta.  Invited as part of a select group of Atlanta-area students to See Blue, Maggie was pleased to attend this recruitment luncheon.   Although accepted to other universities, Maggie is hoping to be a legacy student and to return to her birthplace for college as a nursing major.