March 5 is designated nationally as College Decision Day for the thousands of members of the Class of 2018. Seniors are invited to wear the t-shirt of the college they have chosen to attend this fall. We had fun learning about the many schools our seniors are choosing. The teachers were invited to join in wearing t-shirts from their alma maters!

Congratulations to the members of the Class of 2018 who were wearing shirts from the following colleges:

UGA

Mercer

Lee University

Samford University

Belmont University

Bryan College

University of North Georgia

GA Southwestern

Southeastern

GA Southern

Valdosta State

Mississippi College

Congratulations to Coach Mr. Byrd and the SCA Chess Team for winning state at the GICAA State Chess Meet in Greensboro last week! The team competed in a field of ten teams from throughout the state. What an awesome accomplishment for this being our inaugural year competing in chess!

The winning foursome which included first chair sophomore Charlie Taylor, juniors Nathanael Sancinto and Andrew Sanders, and sophomore Andrew Orr, defeated a very talented team from Horizon Christian School (Cumming). The team has been invited to compete in the statewide (all schools) Chess Championship later this spring.

The entire team competed very well with an astounding eight players making it to the final two rounds. Other members of the SCA Chess Team who competed were Addie Wilson, Jared Guin, Nathan Roberts, Skylar Whiddon, and Reece Letchworth. Congratulations to the SCA Chess Team on bringing home the state trophy!

Congratulations to the varsity boys’ basketball team for winning the Fullington Christmas Tournament for a second straight year. After the Eagles beat John Hancock Academy 70-35 on Friday, they faced host Fullington Academy on Saturday.

The boys started out strong from the opening tip-off to beat the Trojans 72-51 to claim the title. Senior Stantravious Smith led all scorers in the tournament recording 80 in two games! Joining Stan for the All-Tournament Team were junior Anthony Adams and sophomore Colin Dougherty. Congratulations to the boys team!

The girls varsity team lost a thriller in overtime to John Hancock Academy on Friday 49-48. The Lady Eagles were led by junior Anna Kendrick’s six 3-pointers (18 points for the game) which earned her a spot on the All-Tournament Team! On Saturday, the Lady Eagles won the consolation game against Rock Springs Academy by a score of 41-8.

This past weekend, the sophomore class headed to the town of Clarkston near Atlanta to go on their annual domestic mission trip. The Clarkston area is known for its diverse population of refugees from countries all over the world including nations in the Middle East and Africa. This experience has become a part of our sophomore Bible curriculum as the students study missiology and, more specifically, the life of Paul. It is meant to introduce the students to their first real experience with missions work. It is an excellent capstone experience for this unit.

Campus Pastor Jeremy Davidson has been going to this particular ministry in Clarkston for over 10 years since his days as a youth pastor in Fayetteville. He connects with a North American Mission Board missionary to these people groups named “Mr. Bennett.” Following a manual labor, work session, Mr. Bennett led the students through a special presentation Saturday morning to help them become ‘mission-minded’ before they went out and ministered to the people.

When we arrived at an apartment complex with a heavy refugee population, the students were met by a large throng of children playing in the apartment complex playground area. As the students moved through the crowd, the refugee children responded to our students in such a personal and genuine way. After just playing with and loving on these children on a cold afternoon, they broke up in groups and conducted prayer walks throughout the complex. When the time came to leave, it was hard for both the refugee children and our students to say good-bye–but in a few short years, the Class of 2020 will return to the apartment complex on their Senior Trip to reconnect with these wonderful people.