Today at GCS: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday night in Savannah

Well, I just got off the phone with Coach Copeland, and the Boys Basketball team is on the way home. The game was a little closer than the first time we played Bethesda, we only lost by 19 points. Grant Colson led the Generals with 13, Payton Sorrell had 12 points in a losing effort.

We will play again next Friday in Brunswick,GA, against Heritage Christian, then Saturday in Savannah against Providence Christian.

The Lady Generals are #1 in our region, and the Generals are tied for 3rd.

Volunteer's at Work

Thanks to all of the volunteer's for helping with the 95th Birthday letter mail out. Without help from our many friends of GCS projects such as this would not be easy.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Seniors look forward to last home game Saturday

Every year at the last home basketball game GCS honors the seniors who participate in the Basketball program. This year we have 9 to honor.

Cheerleaders

Sarah Copeland Captain
Davida Lee
Alle Fortes

Girls Basketball

Amie Clonce
Samantha Sloan

Boys Basketball

Brandon Bennett
Eric Ovaert
Will Bajalia
Peyton Sorrell

Cafeteria Fundraiser Friday Jan 23rd 5pm to 9pm

Cafeteria Fundraiser

The Dinner was a great success. Thanks for all who came out and ate with us, as usual the turn out was great. Brooke did a fantastic job, oh yeah Nick (Brooke's husband) was pretty good in the kitchen also.

We appreciate your support.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Mary Cathryn Wisenbaker 1915-2009

We at GCS lost a lifelong supporter of the school with the passing of (Grand Ma Wisenbaker) Mary Cathryn Wisenbaker (1915-2009). We will miss this lovely Christian Lady. With our loss is Heaven's gain. She graduated from then Dasher Bible School in 1933, and raised 3 daughters who have been largely instrumental in the success of GCS. The family will receive visitors at Carson Mclane funeral home on Wednesday January 21st, from 6pm to 9pm. The service will be at Dasher Church of Christ the 22nd at 2pm.

Homecoming 2009

We had a great time the weekend for Homecoming 2009. I hope that all of you were able to come to all the festivities. The 2008-2009 Homecoming Queen is Sarah Copeland daughter of Jim(71') and Vicky Copeland, and the King is Travis Carter son of Winston Carter Jr. and Karen Harrison. The Lady Generals and Generals were both winners in their games with Providence Christian from Savannah Ga. Then us old geisers played an alumni game and we all considered ourselves winners, ha ha. I for one was sore for the next few days.

Having Strength in Challenging Times

In light of the current national financial difficulties that are in the news, we are not surprised that we are asked if we think this will impact GCS. We are all impacted at some level from massive to minimal, and it looks as though it might last longer than we would like.

So the question is how is Georgia Christian School doing today. How has the school been impacted by the current economy? Are we worried about enrollment, or fundraising for this year and the next? Will the quality of our programs suffer and progress be held up for a while?

Of course we will be affected. It would be rather silly for us to think that we would not be. I would like to say it this way, GCS is positioned to thrive in 2009 and beyond.

In enrollment, we are currently receiving many requests for applications for all grades, and it looks like we will be increasing our numbers over the 2008-2009 year. The word is getting out about GCS. Families are making it a budgeting priority to be at GCS, and join you and your children.

The fundraising has been impacted to a certain degree, but I still feel we can make our goal for this year to balance our budget. We are trying to cut down on the number of fundraising events that we have done in the past. We have a Jog-A-Fun scheduled for May 1st in conjunction with Fun Day 2009, and a Golf Tournament on May 4th at VCC. I hope all of you will get behind these events to help make them a success.

Our endowment has sustained losses like every other investment, but the fact that we have a substantial endowment and even are adding to it is a blessing that a lot of private schools do not have.

Our Board of Directors have put GCS in a position to thrive in difficult financial times by not having ANY long term debt. They are also concerned with keeping our class sizes to a level where quality education can be still maintained, unlike the trend of the public schools to increase class size to 30 students in grades 4th-8th and 32 9th-12th.

Finally, we are committed to continuing the trend to enhance the educational level with AP classes next year, more Smart Boards in more class rooms, and our strategic planning committee is almost finished with its plans to present to the Board in May.

There are four things that you can do to help GCS sustain and grow.

1. Pray with us. For the school to keep Christ king of our mission, to continue to progress for our children’s sake, and to keep our sights set on what matters most.

2. Talk with us. If you are having notable troubles, contact me by email or phone (229-559-5131), and tell him about your situation. If you are more comfortable initiating that conversation with your principal, then begin there.

3. Stand by us. If you’ve felt little impact with the recent difficulties, I hope you’ll consider a tax deductible gift to GCS for financial aid for a family that may be struggling or a gift for a GCS program to help that program continue to thrive and improve. Those who went before us here, did that for us. Now for some of us, this is our turn to make a difference. If you’d like to make a special contribution, contact me, Deland Guthrie by email or phone (229-559-5131).

4. Finally, continue to speak up for GCS with other families. Time and again, we’ve found that future GCS families seek us out because they first heard from you what a blessing the school is to your family. Please pass that word. Invite a friend to campus with you or introduce them to me. You’ll be blessing their children and the school by your good words. In every time, God teaches us lessons we need, lessons that change us for the better. That’s true with you, our families, and our school family. Let’s listen for His voice and grow in Him together.

Deland

Today at GCS