Unity Christian High School
“Transformation”
Wed., February 1, 2012
Phone 737-4114 Activity Line 737-3865
www.unity.pvt.k12.ia.us or www.unitychristian.net
Dear Parents.
The month of January was a blast, a blitz and a blip. It was a blast as I pause and reflect from the perch of February 1, back to Homecoming, Spiritual Emphasis Week and a lot of basketball games. It was a blitz for many, where we went from event to event with little sleep in between. And January was a blip, because it seems that we just had the Christmas concert last week!
The impact of the being busy is mostly good for us. Studies show that students, who are multi-involved in church, school and home, learn to sharpen their time management skills. It is a time of training in their lives to manage time and make commitments.
Yet we need rest as well. Last week my 11 year-old daughter scheduled in a shut-down night. She had the choice to go with us to another event. Instead she informed my wife and I that she was just going to stay home. I think she drew pictures, played with the dog and went to bed early. What wisdom! I learned a lot from her that night.
God calls us into times of rest too. I have a reminder above my desk in my office from Psalm 46:10: “ Be still and know that I am God.”
As February begins, schedule in time to rest. Stay home. Draw pictures and go to bed early!
W. Dykstra
Calendar
Thu., Feb. 2 Chapel: Mr. Beimers
6:30 p.m. – Grades 10-11 Parent Night at Unity (information below)
6:00 p.m. – Fr. G/B BB at Sioux Center – bus leaves at 5:00
Fri., Feb. 3 7:30 a.m. – ACT practice session in room 105
6:00 p.m. – Var. G/B BB at Remsen Union – bus leaves 4:45
Sat., Feb. 4 - State Drill Team Competition on IPTV 8:00-10:00 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 5 2:00 p.m. – Knightsounds at OC Immanuel CRC
2:00-4:00 p.m. - State Drill Team Competition on IPTV
Mon., Feb. 6 6:30 p.m. – F/JV G/B BB with MOC/Floyd Valley – girls home, boys away – no bus
Tue., Feb. 7 Chapel: Mrs. Dirksen; Noon: Moms-in-touch meets at SC 1st CRC
6:00 p.m. – Var. G/B BB vs. Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn (H) – pep band
Wed., Feb. 8 3:15 p.m. – Game Club
Thu., Feb. 9 Chapel: Rev. Brad Nymeyer
6:30 p.m. – F/JV G/B BB with Sheldon – girls home, boys away – bus leaves 5:30
Sat., Feb. 11 ACT Test
7:00 p.m. – Regional Girls BB tourney – Unity vs. South O’Brien at Unity
Sun., Feb. 12 6:00 p.m. – Instruments of Praise at SC Faith CRC
Mon., Feb. 13 10:10 a.m. – Freshmen meet with Jostens rep regarding class rings
7:00 p.m. – Boys District BB Tourney – Unity vs. Cherokee at Unity
Track practice begins
Tue., Feb. 14 Chapel: OCCS: 2nd/3rd graders Heroes of Faith
Possible Regional Girls BB at Sioux Center at 7:00 p.m.
Noon: Moms-in-touch meets at Unity
Wed., Feb. 15 Next Roundtable
Girls tournament dates: Feb. 11, 14, 17, 20
Boys tournament dates: Feb. 13, 16, 21, 25
Advance Dates
Feb. 18 Boyden-Hull Quiz Bowl
Feb. 20 President’s Day – N/S
Feb. 22 American Math Competition at Unity
Feb. 23 POPS Concert at Unity
Feb. 24 JETS Competition
March 3 Math Competition at Dordt
March 6 Judging for Science Fair
March 8 Science Fair Open House
March 10 War Eagle Conference Quiz Bowl
March 12 Regional History Day Competition
March 15-17 “The Music Man”
March 30 Junior-Senior Banquet
**Our Moms In Prayer group (formerly Moms In Touch) continues to meet for prayer every Tuesday at noon. We meet at Unity on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. This coming Tuesday, Feb 7, we will meet in Sioux Center at First CRC, room 2, at noon. We would love to welcome any moms who have a desire to pray for Unity. This week we praised God that he is awesome, using Deut 10:17-21, and Ps 99:1-3 to direct our praise. We prayed Hebrews 12:28-29 for our children: O Lord, since ___ is receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let ___ be thankful, and so worship You acceptably with reverence and awe, for You, O God are a consuming fire.
**Calendar for 2012-13: has been made and is posted on our website under calendars.
**MOC/Floyd Valley Drivers Ed: Registration forms are available in our office. Registration deadline is March 30! Attach money and return to the Unity office.
**Congrats to:
*the varsity Quiz Bowl team who placed 2nd at the MOC/Floyd Valley competition: Matthew Grossmann, Conner Schuiteman, Kathleen Tazelaar and Luke VanTol.
*the JV teams placed 2nd (Derek De Vries, Benjamin Kuiper, Amber Rens, Emma Walhof) and 3rd: Erin Boersma, Kinza Brue, Mark Jelsma, Jeffrey Jeltema, and Anthony Stotts-Westra.
*Miss LeMahieu has been selected as the female lead in the Tulip Time Production of “My Fair Lady”.
**Homecoming 2012 was a very fun week for staff and students and those parents who attended. Everyone was in high spirits and in spite of the snow on Friday and a late start, we totally enjoyed that day. It was good to have Brandon Haan (a 10-year alumnus) speak in chapel, Ms. Van Dyke and Mr. Beimers interviewed the homecoming representatives in a unique and interesting way, and Jonathan Hale and Collin Korver led the Talent Show as masters of ceremony in a variety of costumes and introductions. All of the talent entries were extremely well done, with students and faculty taking part. A packed house at the games is always a wonderful end to a day of celebration!
Congrats to Karissa De Jong & Nicolas Wielenga for being selected as Lady and Knight.
*Hall Decorations & Spirit Week winners: 1st-Juniors; 2nd-Seniors; 3rd-Sophs; 4th-Frosh
*to Mr. Bouma and Kauk’s Living Groups for playing the championship game in dodgeball – Mr. Bouma’s groups were the winner.
**Parents of Junior students: Please remember to get your $25 paid for the After Banquet Party by next week! We are beginning to buy and order things for the party and we need to have everyone make their contributions. Please give your money or check to the office. Thanks!
**Seniors: Please get a baby picture to the office very soon.
**Thank you to those of you who contribute to the NICSTO program – we were able to distribute $25,320 early in the year and $75,935 in January to 81 Unity families.
**Bakeless Bake Sale: Sometime in February you will be e-mailed information about the Unity Auxiliary fund-raiser “The Bakeless Bake Sale”.
**On February 2 we will be hosting two very critical parent meetings at Unity Christian.
**At 6:30 p.m. all current sophomore parents are invited to the Music Room to learn about important on and off campus programs for students in the junior year. Come learn about the importance of GPA, course selection, involvement in activities, the PSAT and ACT prep programs, and PSEO program (senior year). Learn about the resources we have on our website and about enrichment programs we offer. We will discuss the next 2 years of high school and how parents can help their child prepare for life after Unity.
**At 7:30 p.m. we will run a current junior parent meeting. In this meeting, we will spend time on ACT preparation, PSEO options, college preparation, resources for college selection, scholarships and financial aid. We will also discuss internship and work release opportunities. We will also address requirements for graduation.
**We FIRMLY believe that much of this information is critical for parents to hear ahead of time. Please plan to attend.
**Also, on Feb. 2 - speaker Fred Stoeker: You and your teenager(s) are invited to o hear Fred Stoeker, author of Every Man's Battle, share insights into how to open up the dialogue as parents and teenagers about the whole issue of sex and sexuality. Fred will share for about 45 minutes on this topic and then we'll have guys and ladies separate in which Fred will speak to the guys about guys issues and a female from Bethany Christian Services (to be named) to the ladies about lady issues. We are meeting from 7:00-9:00pm at the former Mr. Movies building downtown (corner of Central Ave NW and 3rd St NW). Please pass this on to other families with teenagers.
**We realize that the above two meetings are on the same date – they are both important – we leave it to you to perhaps “divide-and-conquer”…
**Soles4Souls During the month of February, we’ll be doing a shoe drive for Soles4Souls. This organization sends our used/old shoes (or even a single shoe) and distributes them around the world to those in need. Shoes can be brought in to school anytime until the 29th. Go through your shoes and help the Soles4Souls foundation change the world...one pair of shoes at a time. (PDF attached)
Other info:
• Soles4Souls has been around since 2005
• over 16 million pairs of shoes have been distributed in 127 countries worldwide
• go to Soles4Souls.org for more info/pictures