...of Good Report Spring Edition 2016

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Portland Christian School
QUALITY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION SINCE 1924
...of Good Report
Spring Edition 2016
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...of Good Report
Philippians 4:8 (ASV)
Plans in Motion to
Strengthen and Grow PCS
Portland Christian School
8509 Westport Rd
Louisville, KY 40242
(502) 429-3727
www.portlandchristian.org
Editor
Dan Wilson
If you could choose one major problem to have in life, what would it be? If
Portland Christian School had been given this choice, we probably would have
picked the “good problem” we are currently facing. We are so full of students that
we have classes tucked into every possible space – the former conference room,
the former teachers’ lounge, and refurbished basement rooms. God has blessed
us with over 400 wonderful students in PK-12th grade and we need more space
to serve them better. I would like you to meet some of them…
Administration
Executive Director
Jodell Seay
Junior High &
High School Principal
Tim Caldwell
Elementary Principal
Barbara Jacobs
College & Career Counselor
Jennifer Haynes
PCS Little School Director
Deborah Sprinkle
Board of Directors
Chairman
Danny Taylor
Secretary
Dan Miller
Members
Houston Cockrell
Jon Cyrus
Nathan Grimes
Terry Hammond
Gene Heid
Tim Heid
William Heid
Jim Lowry
Bob Lyon
Ray Mitchell
Joe Morrison
Bill Overberg
Amy Porter
Cory Rough
J. R. Satterield
Jodell Seay
Debbie Sprinkle
Paula Tucker
• Spencer and Alex were
adopted from an orphanage
in Guatemala as infants.
Now tall, athletic PCS 7th
graders, they were thrilled
to participate in our Day of
Service in November because
they got to prepare gift boxes
for children in situations
Alex (center) and Spencer (right) assembling
shoeboxes with their classmates
similar to their early years.
(In one day our 7th and 8th graders packed 285 shoeboxes which were given
to children in Botswana, Sudan, Colombia, Ukraine, and Rwanda this past
Christmas through Operation Christmas Child!)
• Mackenzie came to PCS from a private school known for its strong focus on
academics. She is still excelling in academics here at PCS, but she says she
has also found greater freedom to express her creativity. Besides her love of
creative writing and art, she is helping to start a farmers’ market that will begin
this summer, God willing.
• Julia (not her real name) was struggling and afraid in her previous school
and terriied of coming to this new school. After a few weeks here she said,
“Mama, thank you for putting me in PCS!” She has found a welcoming and
safe environment here that has allowed her to thrive.
• Rilynn has cochlear implants but is able to learn in a regular classroom
because PCS was willing to implement an FM ampliication system that has
helped her to hear the teacher more clearly (made possible mainly by a gift
from Kosair Charities). After coming to PCS for kindergarten last year from a
specialized school for hearing impaired children, she is currently a thriving
irst grader and has paved the way for other hearing impaired students to be
able to enroll at PCS.
• Victor Cheruiyot, whose great dream while growing up in the Kibera slum near
Nairobi, Kenya, was to become a doctor. Through the generosity of a local
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Invest in generations of PCS students today!
W
e need YOUR help to build four new classrooms for this coming fall!
Your gift will help us better serve our current students and allow us to
reach more. Every gift, large or small, will help us reach our goal of
building these classroom debt-free!
Give online at portlandchristian.org/support-pcs or by sending checks marked
“building fund” to
Portland Christian School
8509 Westport Road, Louisville, KY 40242
Building for Today...
Preparing for Tomorrow
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Reformation Day
O
n October 30th, 2015, the elementary took a step
back in time to the Middle Ages, speciically to
the time better known as the Renaissance period,
to learn about the Protestant Reformation. Students
traveled around our campus, which became the town of
Wittenburg, to learn about Martin Luther, John Calvin,
and Martin Bucer. These men greatly inluenced the
Protestant movement. Students visited stations where
they learned about each man and about life during the
Middle Ages. They witnessed a re-enactment of Martin
Luther posting his 95 theses on the church door and of
the Pope immediately excommunicating him. They also
participated in translating Bible verses, since the common
man during that time did not have access to the Bible in
their own language. They also wrote letters to those in
prison in response to the teachings of Scripture that we
are to care for the widowed, sick and those in jail for their
debts. The students’ letters of encouragement were later
delivered to a local outreach ministry. The entire day was
quite an experience for all.
Mrs. Martin reads to students about the Reformation
Elementary Missions
As part of our missions program this year, students were
encouraged to donate canned goods for Thanksgiving
baskets and Christmas food boxes. In the past, the
generosity of the student body enabled us to give ive
Thanksgiving baskets and ive Christmas boxes to ive
needy families.
This year the students were challenged to donate over
800 cans of food. As an incentive, they were told that if
they did, Mrs. McClellan and Mrs. Jacobs would take a pie
in the face. If the students donated over 1,000 can goods,
then Mrs. Istre and Mrs. Lane would join in the fun. Our
students collected over 1,400 can of food! The elementary
was able to donate ive Thanksgiving baskets including
the turkeys, plus give can goods to several local ministry
food banks. That was followed by ive Christmas food
boxes, including the hams. Mrs. Jacobs, Mrs. McClellan,
Mrs. Istre, and Mrs. Lane joyfully took their pies in the face.
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Baskets of food collected by our students for families in need
Keilea Moore tosses a well-aimed pie at Mrs. Istre’s face while
Mrs. McClellan looks in with sympathy.
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Serving More than High Tea
T
he bell inally tolled. Weeks of preparation, cooking, and timing were about to face the ultimate test.
An eager audience waited what was just beyond that shut door. And it seemed just as soon as the
bell began the festivities, it brought them to an end. But for one hour, sixth grade students got to see
irst-hand the fruits of their labors as they were congratulated by impressed attendees and rewarded with
sweet treats.
The sixth grade class’s reading of the
C.S. Lewis classic The Lion, the Witch, and
the Wardrobe means going beyond the
written pages to participate in the culture
of an older era. In this case, high tea of old
England is the focal point. Young men put
on their Sunday best shirts and ties and
learn about serving with a smile, and being
silent. The young ladies learn about proper
behavior and carrying a conversation with
others regardless of their background.
Intense practice for weeks had inally led
to the completion of their training, and the
sixth grade class was ready to serve and put
their practice into action.
Continuing a successful trend, the students were once again blessed to put on a high tea experience for
the residents of Parr’s at Springhurst. The residents and supervisors greeted them with big smiles and
anxious waiting. Some could not wait to get in and enjoy an hour of treats and fellowship. At the end of the
formal festivities, the children were delighted to spread a little cheer by passing out Valentines made by the
elementary students to those residents present at the tea.
Then the venue shifted to the
Portland Christian campus.
The gym was lined with white
linens and red accents. The
student’s families and school
administrators attended the
second tea. The tea proved
to be a illing experience, and
not just because no one left
hungry. Visitors and guest
got to see a little slice of
Portland Christian’s dedication
to serve, as well. Through
this experience, the children
left with an appreciation for
culture and respect they will
never forget.
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Plans in Motion to Strengthen and Grow PCS
• Physician, Victor has been able to spend a year and a half at PCS preparing to enter an American university.
He now has scholarship ofers from prestigious universities so he can pursue his dreams, which includes
returning to Kenya to start a clinic in his grandmother’s poor village.
• Caroline Wood is a senior who has been a leader during her thirteen years at PCS, active on the worship
team, in drama and in sports. She recently received a scholarship to play volleyball at Asbury University.
When she graduates this May she will be the fourth generation in her family to graduate from PCS
(parents David 1985 and Jane Donlon Wood 1989; grand-mother Sherry Blansett Wood, 1960; and
great-grandparents Joe 1938 and Martha McKibbin Blansett 1939).
PCS is blessed by the wonderful variety of students that God has sent to us! They represent a wide spectrum
of denominational, socio-economic, racial and national diversity. We are honored to serve them and we
feel called to do all we can to serve them better. We also feel called to serve more students like them, but in
order to realize these desires, we must irst enlarge our facilities.
The good news is that this dream is shared by our board of directors. After much prayer and deliberation,
this past July the PCS Board approved a new ive year plan. PCS Vision 2020 is a plan that focuses on ive
major areas of development for PCS over the next ive years.
1. Work towards increasing enrollment to 600+ students in PK-12th grade. This will allow PCS to serve
more students and families while making it possible to retain our family feel. It will allow us to add more
academics (such as AP and dual-credit courses), sports and extra-curricular activities, and to achieve
greater inancial stability. Our current enrollment stands at around 425 students in PK-12th grade.
2. Expand our facilities. This includes a two phase building plan, starting with adding four new classrooms
for next year and eventually adding a new junior high and high school building and a second gym. It
also includes seeking to acquire sports ields. The irst phase – adding four new classrooms – in under
way, with construction slated to begin on those late this spring or summer, God willing. Please view the
90 second video about this project on the home page of our website – portlandchristian.org.
3. Strengthen our inancial stability. This goal is multi-faceted, and includes increasing compensation for
our faculty and staf and continuing to ofer signiicant levels of tuition assistance.
4. Improve our communications. We are working on ways to communicate more efectively at all levels –
board, administration, faculty and staf, families, donors and the general public. In mid-March we shared
PCS Vision 2020 with our faculty and families and plan to share our vision with our PCS family annually.
We have redesigned our website and increased our use of social media and plan to continue to improve
these over time.
5. Continue to implement our technology plan. This year we added a full-time IT staf member and have
plans to begin providing laptops to some of our high school students and tablet stations available to our
elementary classes in the coming year.
These plans are ambitious but within reason, especially if our Father is leading the way. As we seek to serve our
current and future students well, we ask for your prayers and your inancial support. Pray that everything
we do will be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, and that we will give thanks and glory to God the Father
through him. And pray that every student who comes to PCS will grow in as aspect as Christ did – in wisdom
and stature, and in favor with God and man.
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A Historic Visit to the New PCS Campus
T
his past October we were blessed to have
Wilbur Spangler, son-in-law of Brother Claude Neal,
one of our “PCS Founding Fathers,” visit our campus
along with his son, Wayne Spangler. Wayne later sent the
following letter to us.
“I just wanted to let you know how much my father, Wilbur
Spangler, and I enjoyed our visit to the new campus of the
Portland Christian School this last fall. We were not only
impressed with the beautiful grounds around the campus,
especially with the fall leaves changing, but also the size
of the campus with the diferent buildings you have to
dedicate to special areas.
“I am sure my grandparents, Claude and Florence Neal,
would have very much approved of the new campus and
all it has to ofer. They both dedicated their lives to seeing
that children were brought up with a good Christian
education and I am sure they would be proud to see how
much the school has grown from those very early years in
the 1920’s.
Wilbur Spangler stands beside the photo and biography
of his father-in-law, Claude Neal.
“Also, I wanted to let you know how pleased we were to see the photos of all the past principals of Portland
Christian along with a small write up of their lives. I especially enjoyed seeing my grandfather’s photo and
reading about him. I actually learned a couple things I did not know about him. Hopefully we will be able to
return for another visit in a few years and see how much more the school has grown.
Sincerely,
Wayne Spangler
Volunteers Beautify
Landscaping
M
any thanks to the sixty plus
volunteers who spent over 500
hours over two weekends making
our beautiful campus look even better! (No,
we were not disposing of these kids – they
were enjoying the chance to help compact
the cuttings in the dumpster)
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Non-Proit
Cincinnati, OH
Permit #4087
Portland Christian School
8509 Westport Road
Louisville, KY 40242
PCS ART IN THE
WINNER’S CIRCLE
PCS sent nine submissions of art work to the Horsing Around
with Art exhibit at the Derby Museum in January. Our students’
artwork was on display along with the best work of public and
private schools around Louisville. We earned two ribbons in
that competition.
From that exhibit, a small number of works are selected by a
panel of judges to go to the annual exhibit Art in the Winner’s
Circle XI in Frankfort, KY. This year, two of our students had
their work chosen to go to the Frankfort Exhibit – 8th grader
Liliana Matasaru’s yarn and acrylic horse and rose, and 11th
grader Sydney Gregory’s impressionistic horse racing scene at
Churchill Downs. This is a great honor, and another chance to
win. The work will be on display at the Jane Chancellor Moore
Gallery in Frankfort.
Congratulations to all of our students whose works were
exhibited, especially to Lilliana and Sydney, and to our
wonderful 7th-12th grades art teacher, Mrs. Susan Brooks!
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