Alumni Update June 2020

Alumni Update June 2020

Dear Fellow Alumni:

We sure had a great time during our alumni festivities in January. We had a memorable weekend with many giveaways and competitions. A big congratulations to Graham Bibb, recipient of a 24” Vizio LCD TV giveaway! It was a great weekend for the alumni teams as the lady alumni conquered the Crusader volleyball team and the men alumni were victorious over the Crusader varsity basketball team. We delayed presenting the Alumnus of the Year Award until our annual Missions Conference in February. It was a joy to present this to 1997 alumnus, Bradley Edmondson. Bro. Bradley began Medical Missions Outreach in 2003 and continues to lead this organization today. I am anticipating our next homecoming/alumni weekend together which is currently scheduled for January 22-23, 2021. 

As you well know, much has changed in our nation since our Alumni Weekend. This change had a dramatic influence on the traditional operation of schools nation-wide. While there is not one perfect resolution for each school to implement, it became clear that each school would have to “fend for themselves” in choosing the best options for their patrons. While no situation outside of the classroom is ideal, I believe that we developed, implemented, and maintained the most efficient scenario for our school, given the circumstances. We have been, for many years now, exclusively using the Abeka Book curriculum. This proved to be a valuable fact as we moved into these uncertain times. Abeka Book Publishing made the streaming of their online video instruction free to Christian schools for the remainder of the year. That was a tremendous help to us, and we enacted a plan almost immediately as that announcement was made. Our last day of classroom instruction was Friday, March 13. We took a week away from academics which we planned on redeeming in the month of April. The very next week was our regularly scheduled spring break, which I wanted to remain a break. I am pleased to say that we successfully directed and led the online instruction of our students from Monday, March 30 to our final day, Monday, May 15. 

Our teachers went right to work in watching these video lessons and formulating lesson plans to go alongside them. We established a weekly packet exchange of the week’s completed work for the new week’s work. We created Facebook groups that teachers could update each morning for the students. We established weekly Zoom meetings for classes to maintain social interaction, albeit virtually, during this time apart. It has been an incredibly growing experience for our teachers, for our students, and especially for our parents. Our mission has always been to honor Jesus Christ by partnering with parents to educate the next generation of Christian leaders. I emphasize to our parents that this educational endeavor is a partnership, and I can assure you that as a school, we were right beside our parents every step of the way with daily calls for help, distance help classes, and oral evaluations. I am blessed to lead an incredible and flexible group of dynamic teachers. 

It has been a challenging yet rewarding conclusion to our school year. While we did not plan on these events to happen, the Lord knew about them and led us each step of the way to continue to provide a quality education for our students. We ended the year with a Virtual Awards Ceremony and a Virtual Senior Commencement. We were also able to facilitate a social-distanced kindergarten graduation in our auditorium at the end of May. At a closing teacher’s luncheon, we honored Mr. Robert Nadaskay for completing his 10th year of teaching at GCS. We also honored Mrs. Linda Henderson who completed her 30th year of teaching at GCS. In addition to this honor, she was chosen as the 2020 Teacher of the Year. I am anticipating our 42nd year of operation as we approach the 2020-2021 school year. Enrollment numbers are approaching their highest numbers in the last decade of our school!

At the beginning stages of this national change, our church was entering into an exciting new phase of our building program that would directly affect the school. As many of you know, we had the intentions to build a new gymnasium on the block right next to the school facilities—that was, until a church building came up for sale just up the next block from us. You may remember it as the old LDS church up the street. With an additional 15,000 square feet of space and 106 parking spaces, Pastor Hon began to seek God’s guidance on the purchase of that building. You see, that building contains much of what we were planning to build, including a gymnasium! We would be getting everything that we desired for one-third of the projected cost for the brand-new building. Our church voted to buy the property, and we should close on that property within the next two weeks. I am including a link below to a Dropbox file that has a short video of the new property. You do not need to have an account to view the video and pictures. Included in this file are pictures of our recently cleared property by the playground and large parking lot, as well as our brand-new sign that has been installed. It will be a great advertisement on Warm Springs Road, especially as the 5-year-construction is projected to come to an end in 2021. This link for the pictures and video will be active throughout the month of June.  


Thank you for taking the time to read this update. I do enjoy the opportunity to tell you what is going on at your high school alma mater. If you would like any more information on the content above, feel free to respond to this e-mail or call the school office. I always enjoy hearing from you all. Please continue to strive together with us in prayer. 

Crusader Always,
Bryan McDonald
School Administrator
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