Alumni Praise - Anne Floyd

Congratulations to FMCS graduate, Anne Floyd, who was married Saturday, November 22 to Mr. Eric Terrell at First Christian Church. The wedding party also featured other alumni: Abby Floyd, Rachel Ward, Sarah Palmer, Tabitha Palmer, and Sam Floyd.

Alumni Praise - Angie Kuhn

FMCS Alumnus and soccer standout, Angie Kuhn, was named to the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) South All-Region Team as a sophomore this past season. Angie, working on her nursing major at Palm Beach Atlantic University, has scored 6 goals and 4 assists this year despite injuries.

The Final Call

FMCS says good-bye and thank you to Mrs. Joyce Swearingen! Joyce and her husband will be moving to pastor a church in Fredrickstown, Ohio. We have been blessed to have her working with us here!

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First Grade Program

The first grade presented what they learned about the first Thanksgiving!


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Kindergarten Crafts

Mrs. Smith's class - parents, kids, crafts, fun!



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Gingerbread House Day

It's time for the third grade's gingerbread house day! Thank you Miss McLaughlin and parents! See the picture below of the temple of dental doom!


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1 pie in the face + 1 Principal = Water for those in need!

Today's elementary chapel was very exciting! After a message by Pastor Johnny about thankfulness, Pastor David gave the report on the coin drive for the Africa Oasis project! (click here) We want to thank all our teachers, staff, parents, and students, AND KIDZTOWN - over $1200 was raised for the well for the children! That is a great example of being Jesus to the world! The fifth grade was the top class!

Well, the challenge was that if we raised over $1000, I would get a pie in the face! Watch the video! (I do want to let you know that a pie in the face does wake you up more than a triple shot white chocolate mocha at Starbucks!) Mrs. Robin Couch , the teacher of the winning class, was able to do the honors.

THANK YOU!

National Junior Honor Society Fall Induction

Fort Myers Christian School held their annual fall induction today in the Colonial Chapel. Students and guests attended the special ceremony that welcomed two new inductees: Miss Kaitlin Schafe and Mr. JJ Cantisano. Many thanks to our teacher/sponsor, Mrs. Jennifer Crouch, and to our guest speaker, Pastor Jeff Leatherman (Senior High Youth Pastor at First Assembly).

Mr. Mitchell also announced that in the spring, we will also be adding the Josiah Chapter of our FIRST National Elementary Honor Society for grades 4-6. More details coming soon...

Parent University Cafe

Thank you our officers and parents that were able to attend today. We shared some great information and a PRAISE over the funds raised for the preschool playground sunshade that will me going up soon. Thank you for your purchase of the Sally Foster gift wrap and Entertainment Books. We also want to thank the College Parkway Starbucks for the free coffee for our meeting!


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Hunter Rollings Story from the D.C. Leadership Conference

While in Washington, D.C., I learned many leadership qualities and lots of American history. We visited different American sites each day like the Lincoln Memorial, the White House and Harper's Ferry and learned why they are important. My favorite part of the trip was learning about American history and the wars we had to fight for our freedom. It made me realize how we take our freedom for granted. We also studied our amendments and freedoms. I think most of all this is what I will take away from this trip. I also liked learning about the leadership qualities of our past leaders and how I can develop these in myself and use them for good. I met a lot of nice kids from across the United States. We had a great time and learned a lot. I would recommend this trip to anyone that is able to go. It was a lot of fun and I will always remember the lessons I learned. - Hunter Rollings (pictured on the right, 7th grader)

Golden Halo 08

A very big night for Christian school teachers in Southwest Florida. The Golden Halo Awards were held at Pelican Preserve. The Lord has provided many things for our school to be proud of:
- We had our two top ten finalists: Lauren Collins, pictured with her husband, Cameron; and Jonathan Blikstad, pictured with his wife, Beth. The ONLY SCHOOL with two top ten finalists.

- I am also very proud of our students and parents - we had the most teachers nominated with 13 total: our two finalists, Shay Cole, Tina Blanden, Robin Couch, Jennifer Crouch, Amy Jean, Amy Harrington, Stacey Leatherman, Rachel McLaughlin, Ronda Richards, Gayle Shell, and Michele Smith.
- Mrs. Dorothy Gulbronson and Miss April King led our middle school choir who ministered during the ceremony with their black light presentation and did a great job representing the school.

- The video inserted includes the report on Fox-36 after the ceremony. Much to my surprise I found out after the ceremony that they interviewed my daughter. Congratulations to Miss Paula Doll from ECS.

Praise God for a great evening for the school!

Brian Richard's Trip to the Washington D.C. Leadership Conference

(pictured in the front) When I first heard about the trip to Washington, D.C, I was excited and scared at the same time. I had never been to D.C and had always wanted to go. But, at the same time I didn’t want to leave my family and friends for a week. I was also afraid I wouldn’t “fit in” with the other scholars. I decided to go with Hunter and Maria and had a blast! I had an amazing time there, I made many new friends, and learned a lot about our nation’s capitol and history. Our schedule was action packed – we hardly ever had free time. I think that’s part of what made it fun though, we never had a moment to waste and it was always visit after visit after visit.
We saw the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial, Washington Monument, Newsuem (like a museum except with old newspapers, etc.), Harpers Ferry (one of the first battles of the Civil War), and many more things, all in seven days! We visited D.C. and three different states: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia. They were all wonderful experiences that I will never forget.
Another thing I noticed was the people from different states. Just in my Leadership Focus Group (of 12) we had people from 10 different states! It showed me that we are all the same, even if we are from different walks of life. Everyone was able to communicate and cooperate together no matter where they were from.
In summary, from the JrNYLC trip you learn A LOT. You learn not only about the Nation’s Capitol and history, but moral values too. They teach you about your rights as a minor, and solidify your leadership skills. I would recommend JrNYLC or any other NYLC programs to everyone! Don’t be scared about going, because I know you will have a wonderful experience and will meet lots of people from different walks of life!

Brian Richards
8th grade

Sports Awards Night

Congratulations to our soccer and volleyball players! Many thanks to Mr. O'Brien, coaches, parents, and players.


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Up Against The Wall

Mrs. Mitchell's 6th grade completed their reports on the missionaries - very creative!

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Preschool Harvest Festival

Check out the pictures to the right - if you double-click, you can go to the complete photo gallery! Special thanks to all of the teachers, aides, parents, staff, faculty, and guests for making this a great day for our preschoolers. They had a chance to go on a hayride, build a truck and sports car, plant seeds, paint, play - awesome time!

Maria Goes to Washington

In late October, three FMCS students attended the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC) in Washington D.C. Hereis our first report coming from 8th grader, Maria Swiersz:

My trip to Washington D.C. was the greatest! I learned a lot of history about our nation and how hard many people worked to make it the great country it is today. The Junior National Young Leaders Conference was one of the best experiences I have ever had. The staff at JrNYLC were very good leaders. They did a great job of teaching me how to become a leader who impacts many other people.
JrNYLC was a great conference. When I got on the plane, all of a sudden I got really nervous and scared. Then, when I got to the conference center I was really scared. Once I got in there and checked in, I noticed that the staff was very friendly. I ate some dinner, unpacked, and went to my Leadership Focus Group (LFG). My leader was awesome and my group was great. In LFG’s, we worked on the 6 basic skills of leadership. Each day we chose and worked on one trait. As I learned and analyzed the one trait each day, I learned a lot.

Almost every day we went to a different site or memorial. We went to amazing places. We went into the city, and went to the Library of Congress, Capital Hill, The Newseum, The White House, and The National Art Gallery. We were also able to go to the Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, and the Vietnam and Korean Memorial. My favorite site was Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. We learned about the leader John Brown, and his raid at Harpers Ferry. It was awesome! While we were there we reenacted the raid, and it was VERY cold! The last night we slept over at the Maryland Science Museum. I loved all the sites we saw, and hope to go back and see them again. This was an amazing trip! I learned a lot about leadership. Every skill they taught me I can use here at home for the benefit of others and for the glory of God.

Veterans Day at FMCS 2008

(please note the slide show to the right) What a great day! Instead of taking the day off and totally missing the reason for Veteran's Day, FMCS invited 14 veterans to join us and speak to our kids. They started the day with a special breakfast from the National Junior Honor Society, the national anthem sung by our MS choir, and then they were escorted to their "tour of duty" - 2 classrooms to speak, 40 minutes each about their time in service, what they did in the service, and what it means to be an American. (In the picture on this post, Jim Pancoast talks with the third graders about the day he was there for the Normandy invasion and a promise he made to God in a foxhole)

Each of the veterans were given a "thank you" from the school that included this poem:

Did My Son Have To Die?

Cindy Sheehan asked President Bush, "Why did my son have to die in Iraq?"

Another mother asked President Kennedy, "Why did my son have to die in Vietnam?"

Another mother asked President Truman, "Why did my son have to die in Korea?"

Another mother asked President F.D. Roosevelt, "Why did my son have to die at Iwo Jima?"

Another mother asked President W. Wilson, "Why did my son have to die on the battlefield of France?"

Yet another mother asked President Lincoln, "Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?"

And yet another mother asked President G. Washington, "Why did my son have to die near Valley Forge?"

Then long, long ago, a mother asked, "Heavenly Father, why did my Son have to die on a cross outside of Jerusalem?"The answers to all these are similar -- "that others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness and freedom."

Thank you to all of our Veterans for being here today!

Second Grade America Day

Second grade enjoyed a HUGE America Day celebration that included: oral and visual presentation on the states - each student had their own PowerPoint presentation; sending e-letters of thanks to our soldiers; a Veteran came and spoke in their classroom; and they enjoyed great American food. I AM VERY PROUD OF A SECOND GRADE CLASS OF STUDENTS THAT GAVE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION IN FRONT OF THEIR PARENTS AND FRIENDS!

Dear FMCS Parents,

I would like to share a letter that I received today. As the school has stated in its correspondence over the past few months, the economy has been tough on all of us and First Assembly of God is no exception. Please read this letter that Pastor Finger sent to our School Board today and I will comment at the end:


Dear FMCS School Board,

I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday afternoon. I regret to inform you that the church has let me go from my position due to finances effective immediately. It has been a pleasure working for and with all of you. I have grown to love the school and all of the people in leadership. I want to especially thank my secretary Colleen Marinello for the past several years of loyal and faithful service. The school is a better place because of her. In addition I want to thank Mel Mitchell. This school is blessed to have a man with integrity, intelligence and leadership abilities.

My time at FAOG and FMCS has been great. Many ups and downs but never an ounce of regret! Thank you to Pastor Betzer, Pastor Liebe and church council for giving me a ministry position when no one else did.

The school faces some challenges in the future however I believe it will again be the premier Christian School in all of Lee County. I do not know what the future holds for me and my family. Right now I am concentrating on the birth of our second child any day. God is good!

I will be in touch as I do not have another church or ministry position lined up but God is faithful and we will be alright. Take care and may God bless all of you, your families and this great school.

Brian Finger


I want to thank Pastor Finger for all of his time and commitment to FMCS. When the church made a change in his responsibilities over a year ago, it was not in his original job description to oversee the business activities of FMCS. I can proudly say that Pastor Finger took the responsibility and jumped right in 100%! He has been working very hard to try to make FMCS one of the best schools in the area. The positive results of his work will be seen in the months to come. We pray for a blessing for his family and for the Lord to open a door for him and his family as they move on from here. In the months to come, the church will help us regroup with our current staff and personnel. We would ask for your prayers there also.

Mel Mitchell
Principal

Lee County Bookmark Winners

Out of 287 entries received at the downtown branch of the library, three students from Fort Myers Christian School received an honorable mention in the recent Lee County Library bookmark coloring contest that was themed “Book Safari.” A special congratulations to Elijah Benson, Tristan Upton, and Joshua Harvey, all of whom are in Mrs. Robin Couch’s fifth grade class. Mrs. Sherry Hill from the Lee County Library System presented the students with their original bookmark which had been laminated, a ribbon and a certificate at a small ceremony in the elementary library media center on Friday morning. All of the bookmarks entered in the contest will be on display at the downtown library, 2050 Central Avenue, Fort Myers, FL 33901, in the children’s department area from now until the end of the month. The annual contest is open to all third, fourth and fifth grade students in Lee County. All of our qualifying students worked on their bookmarks during three class periods in library class with Miss Jay Shrader. A first, second, third place and six honorable mentions are awarded at each library branch. - submitted by Jay Shrader

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One More Week to Help Build A Well in Africa!

We have only had three days this week to collect coins from the classes for the Africa Oasis Project (see my entry on November 4). SO, Pastor Dave and Mr. Mitchell announced in chapel today that we will extend the drive through next week. We also announced that if:

- $1000 is raised, the teacher with the class with the most money donated will get to put a pie in Mr. Mitchell's face in chapel on 11/19!

- $2000 is raised, the teacher with the class with the most money donated will get to put a pie in Pastor Richard's face!

We had another great lesson on being content today - keep working on that at home too!

The Corn Is Growing

The corn is growing in third grade since my October 17 entry!

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Letter from the Principal

Dear Parents of FMCS,

Well, I can’t tell you how much I am going to miss all those political commercials – yes the election is over. No matter what side you are on, more and more we have to pray as Christians. This is not a “political” letter but another observation that despite upcoming changes, our current economic situation in our county and country is still tough today. This is not going to change right away.

There is something that God has laid on our hearts at FMCS and I would like to share it with you because it involves you and your children. MANY of our FMCS families have had a difficult year, and with the holidays ahead, the stress and anxiety may increase. It has always been our desire to help our families and support our moms and dads, young boys and girls, tweens and teens – leading them in the basic foundation of biblical principles in all parts of life. We have been lead by the Lord to use the next couple of months to stress a very important character quality: CONTENTMENT.

In our middle school bible curriculum, contentment is defined as: realizing that true happiness does not depend on material conditions. (From the Character Training Institute) Bible verses that connect with that quality include:

I Timothy 6:7-8, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Knowing that many families may not be able to have the same type of Christmas that they have had before, we want to help our students see:

- How blessed they are with what they have now
- That GIVING is better than getting
- Love is not based on how much you GET at Christmas
- That Christ is what you need – things that are eternal are more important

During our in-service time on Monday, the teachers discussed ways that they could help teach these lessons of contentment to our students. We know that we have a battle ahead of us (it is a culture war), but we want to work together with you to help our students understand how blessed they are and to be thankful for what they have.
As a parent, there are times that I have succeeded at helping my kids see this quality, and there are times have been caught up in the commercialization of the culture, keeping up with the Jones’s, etc. The media will be working very hard – especially through commercials – to tell your kids that they need more STUFF! We can help them by:

- Sharing bible stories on contentment and more verses like Philippians 4:12-13 (you even have the Veggietales and other kids videos that the kids love to watch to reinforce these qualities)
- Helping them to become active in giving: Pastor Richard’s video on the Africa Oasis Project Tuesday was very moving. (go to my blog for details); the missions assembly stressed giving and ways that we can do that to improve our county and country.
- Praying for them and with them!
- Spending time together as a family just doing the most basic activities – TIME WITH OUR KIDS IS THE BEST GIFT WE CAN GIVE THEM!

You will start to see emails sent with reinforcing bible verse, stories, resources, etc. It is all designed to support you and to teach our kids what is really important. Thank you.

In His Service,

Mel Mitchell
Principal

Africa Oasis Project

Moms and Dads: I want you to see the same video your kids saw in our Assembly today! Help us a make a difference this week - your change can REALLY change the world AND ETERNITY! CLICK HERE!

TWO OF THE TOP TEN FINALISTS FROM FMCS

FMCS - TODAY - 9:45 am - at the end of our special missions assembly, representatives from the SW Florida Christian Chamber came in to make a special announcement. Once again, the Christian Chamber has announced the top 10 finalists for the Golden Halo Award. FMCS IS THE ONLY SCHOOL WITH TWO TEACHERS IN THE TOP TEN! Congratulations to Mrs. Lauren Collins (nominated by Payton Stockman and Morgan Tyson) and Mr. Jonathan Blikstad (nominated by Anna Rosenblatt). The event is November 15th! You can get more informaton on tickets, go to the Chamber website.

OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR, will also be ministering with their blacklight presentation that night!

We are excited!

Tour Of Missions

Many thanks to Mrs. Mitchell and the 6th-7th grade drama team for their ministry Sunday and Monday night at First Assembly of God's Tour of Missions! The event gives people the opportunity to go "around the world" and experience missions - many of the classrooms in the Children's Center are decorated as a country. FMCS hosted the Italy room and reacted a 1969 true story of a pastor's wife brought back from the dead, and who continues to minister today in Italy. Her Wednesday bible studies have brought conversions to mafia wives and their children! Many thanks to Mrs. Sinex for allowing us to use her room, Mrs. Cole, Mrs. Dillon, and the parent of our drama students.

Teachers Raising "Dough"

Our teachers had an opportunity to visit a local Dominos Pizza and preview a possible field trip for thier classes. The trip includes the opportunity to "make your own pizza."