Sampson County Chamber of Commerce Member of the Week!

Chamber Member of the Week goes to HCA
By: MaryKate Murray

On January 9, 2012, the Sampson County Chamber of Commerce awarded “Chamber Member of the Week” to Harrells Christian Academy. This award is granted to a different member each week.  Recipients of this award receive the “Chamber Member of the Week” sign to put in the front of their business, balloons, and a box of donuts. If you are granted with this award, you get your picture taken with the sign, and given the opportunity to fill out a local business profile. Then, the Chamber will send this to local newspapers for publication and it will be displayed on the Chamber’s website. Chamber of Commerce President, Gary Mac Herring, presented HCA with this award. Also joining Mr. Herring was Star Telephone, Safe Data, and many other businesses. HCA has been a member of the Chamber for a number of years and this is the first year they have ever been granted with the honor of this award. When asked if he expected this award, Headmaster Dr. Ronald Montgomery replied, “No, it was not anticipated, we did not know anything about it until last Thursday.” Dr. Montgomery also stated that he hopes we are awarded with this honor again in the future, because it is always good to be recognized for the excellence that goes on at HCA.

Cereal Box Reading Project

All Kindergarten- Fifth grade homerooms recently talked about tall tales during Media Skills.  A tall tale is an exaggerated story.  We read the book “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett.  Afterwards we created a cereal box covered with foods that could have fallen from sky, like in the story.  

The students had to work together as a group to decide who was doing what on the box, what was going where on the box, and how they wanted their class cereal box to look when finished.  The older students had to write about their favorite part of the story and tell about their experience of working as a “team”.  

The older students then had the opportunity to share their writings with the class orally.  The younger students had to draw a picture of the favorite part of the story and tell the class orally about their experience of working as a “team”.  The students all seemed to enjoy the book and the group activity.  I hope you enjoy listening to them tell you about their learning experience.  

Where in the World...?

The knowledge exuded by HCA students was out of this world at the 18^th Annual HCA Geography Bee! The bee was held on January 5^th in the HCA auditorium. Mrs. Joy Usher, HCA’s librarian, sponsored the event. Mrs. Usher believes that this experience is a wonderful way to allow students to demonstrate what they have learned about geography.

Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders were given an opportunity to participate. The official participants were selected from classroom geography bees. A list of participants and with their grade levels in parenthesis is shown below. Mr. Ben Roberts, HCA student and former participant in the North Carolina Geography Bee, hosted the event. Ms. Emily Jones, HCA student, assisted Mrs. Usher with the judging.

All participants received a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a certificate. The names of the winners were placed on a wall plaque on the library wall. Congratulations, winners!

Participants

Amos Lanier (7)

Chase Overpeck (6)

Brayden Sutton (6)

Brooke Raynor (7)

Davis Bryant (8)

Lucas Thornton (6)

Rance Creech (6)

Holden Quinn (7)

Noah Warrick (6)

Blake Phillips (6)

Winners (pictured from left to right)

1^st Place: Rance Creech

2^nd Place: Noah Warrick

3^rd Place: Holden Quinn

What Our Sixth Graders Love About HCA

What I love about HCA is how it influences me. It influences me because it has a great Christian environment. HCA also has great people. The teachers and the students are very nice. The curriculum is very challenging now, but I know that it will be helpful later in life. Everyone treats you so well. That's what HCA is like. –Lee

 I like Harrells because it is a Christian school. We can talk about and pray with God. You can also get a good education here. Also coming up soon is a field trip to the mountains! We have many opportunities here that are unique! We also have a new gym and new high school building. -Kaleb

What I love about HCA is the fact that we're all Christians so I can tell them anything and not be embarrassed. I love the teachers here! They're REALLY NICE!!! Another thing I like is P.E. We get to play to play a lot of games. I'm glad that we've  moved into the old high School building, it's a WHOLE LOT BIGGER!!! –Mallorie

Harrells Christian Academy has a very good educational and Christian environment. I have been attending HCA since Kindergarten. I have enjoyed all 7 years! I am now in the 6th Grade here at HCA. There are so many loving teachers everywhere you look! We have chapel every Friday. During this time, we sing, enjoy entertainment, and worship together! We usually have a guest speaker also. I love HCA because you are getting an education through Christian motivation! We have prayer before lunch as a class and pray throughout the day! You can pray with everyone watching and not get in trouble at HCA! We have a very nice Principal also. His name is Ron Montgomery. He is kind and always has a smile on his face! You can't forget about Mrs. Newkirk! She is our Secretary. She has been there since my dad attended HCA! You have to LOVE HCA! –Abbigail

I think that HCA is a great school because they have very nice teachers and students. They have a great gym and they sometimes have book fairs with really good books in there. They also have a nice library where you can go and check out the books. We have a variety of food at Harrells! We even have a salad bar too! -Dominic

HCA Middle School Students are on the Move!

The students returned after Christmas break to new classrooms and lockers.  Last month the high school moved into their new buidling and now the middle school is moving into the "old" high school buidling.  Even though the middle school students are really excited about moving, they are more excited about getting lockers.  What a great way to start the new year!

Message to Lower School From Mrs. Matthis

Dear Lower School Parents,

Merry Christmas!

The Lower School had a wonderful time today at the movies.  The students were so very well behaved and enjoyed every minute of our outing.  I truly appreciate Joy Usher planning this event.  She wanted to be sure that our Lower School students were rewarded for their enthusiasm and participation with our new reading program “Building a School of Readers”.  Please encourage your child to read over the Christmas holidays and let’s put reading as a top priority for the year 2012.

I am pleased to announce that our Food and Toy drive went very well!  We collected over 350 food items and over 150 toys.  It was my pleasure on Saturday, December 10, to participate in the distribution of these toys and food to families in our area in desperate need.  As shown in the attached picture, toys for each family were carefully selected, wrapped and placed in large gift bags.  Bags of food were also distributed.  I was able to meet and see first hand the families who received our gifts.  I can assure you, the food and toys were needed.  Thank you for all you do to raise your children in a Christ like manner.  We see the results of this every day.  We are truly blessed at Christmas to reflect on each and every precious child that we teach.

May God bless your family this Christmas.

Mrs. Matthis

It All Happened in Lower School

Lower school students acted, danced, and sang in two stellar performances of the musical, It All Happened in the Country. This was an exciting opportunity for the K-5 students to show off their talents! The show highlighted many fifth graders. Mrs. Margo Bowker worked with students for many weeks to prepare for the show.

The students performed for family and friends on Sunday, December 4, at 2:00 P.M. There were about 500 people in attendance. On Friday, December 9, the students performed for over 200 area preschoolers. The preschoolers even had a chance to enjoy our campus as they had a snack and played on the playground.

Overall the show was a success! Mrs. Paula Matthis, the Lower School Head said it best, “This show helped us all to realize why we celebrate Christmas and emphasized the importance of seeking and accepting a simpler lifestyle.”

In conjunction with the play, lower school students were able to help out extremely poor people in the region by collecting and donating toys and food. “Local schools afforded us the opportunity to help out the most destitute by connecting us to them,” said Matthis. In total, the lower school students collected 350 items of food and 350 gifts. Each needy family received a bag of toys (based on wish lists) and a frozen turkey.