January Basketball Schedule

2010 WF Nets over $40,000

Many thanks to our awesome 2010 Winter Festival committee for making this year's Winter Festival one of the best ever. All the new kids activites and games, the excellent student art show, the wonderful (huge) silent auction, the live auction, the expanded general store, the creative t-shirt, and the great food all came together to raise over $40,000 for GCA.

This of course would not have been possible without all our sponors and the support of many of our local businesses as well as all the dedicated volunteers including classroom moms, supportive teachers, creative and helpful students and of course you - the parents and students that came out and shared your time, resources and money! WOW....What an exciting time!

Congratulations & thank you to the following students that sold the most raffle tickets:
Breanna Pritchett - K3 - 5th Grade
Brent Warr - 6th - 8th Grade
Tad Young - 9th - 12th Grade

Congratulations to the 2010 Raffle Winners:
Benelli Shotgun - Greg Whittaker

$1500 Cash - Griffin Reynolds

iPad - Roger Edmunds

Thank you to the following Sponsors:
Bishop's Jewelers
Compressed Air Technologies
Dairy Queen

DaniMer Scientific
Decatur Auto Parts

Elberta Crate

Family Bank

First Port City Bank

Godwin Jewelers
Inland Fuels

Live 101.9
Park Avenue Bank

Premier Sales
Southern Triad Construction
Southwest Georgia Farm Credit

The Wear House Etc.

Field By Night - Dec. 10th @ 7

WF Raffle Tickets - 1st Turn-In Tuesday, Nov. 23rd

The first turn-in date for the 2010 Winter Festival Raffle will be

Tuesday, November 23rd, before Thanksgiving break.

The second turn-in date is Monday, November 29th

and ALL tickets will need to be turned in by that Monday afternoon!!

If you need any more tickets, Mrs. Carol has them in the office.

WF Pre-Sale Tickets Available Nov. 29 &30

Exciting Activities are planned for this year's Winter Festival. Make sure you get your pre-sale tickets on Monday, November 29th and Tuesday, November 30th. They will be for sale in the GCA Office.

2010 WF Auction Items

The 2010 Winter Festival Silent and Live Auction will be held Tuesday evening November 30th. Flyers like this one will be going home with all GCA students on Monday, Nov. 22nd so family and friends can see all the exciting items up for bid this year.

Many thanks all the generous businesses and individuals that have donated this year. We are excited to announce our (9) live auction items along with over 130 items for the silent auction.

A fun-filled evening is planned for our GCA family and friends!!

Inland Classic Basketball Tourn. - Nov. 19th & 20h

The Inland Classic Basketball Tournament will be this weekend, Nov. 19th & 20th at GCA in the Perry Gymnasium. Volunteers are needed to help with gate admission and in the concession stand from taking orders to grilling burgers and making funnel cakes. All proceeds will benefit the athletic department. If you are interested in helping and want to be a part of this fun weekend, please give Coach Murr a call at 243-8851. Note - this is a great opportunity to fill some service hours!

Schedule of Friday Games:
1st Game: 3:00 - Byne Christian Ladies vs Highland Christian Ladies
2nd Game: 4:45 - Byne Christian Men vs Highland Christian Men
3rd Game: 6:30 - Enterprise Prep. Ladies vs Grace Christian Ladies
4th Game: 8:15 - Enterprise Prep. Men vs. Grace Christian Men

Schedule of Saturday Games:
5th Game: 9:00 - Ladies consolation game
6th Game: 10:45 - Men's consolation game
7th Game: 12:30 - Ladies' championship game
Presentation of Ladies' trophies and all-tournament selections
8th Game: 2:15 - Men's championship game
Presentation of Men's trophies and all-tournament selections

Grace Receives Handbooks

Karen Cooper of Woodmen of the World Lodge 28 in Bainbridge recently presented "The American Patriots Handbook" to Mrs. Sheffield's fourth-grade class. "The American Patriots Handbook" contains information on the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and history of the American flag, as well as a biography of each U.S. president.

Book Fair Earns $2,835.05

Many, Many thanks to everyone that helped make our 2010 Book Fair a success!! Our total earnings for this year totaled $2,835.05 which was an improvement from last year.

Accreditation Note: We are required to spend $6 per student for books. Based on 275 students, we will need to purchase $1,650 in books. The exciting news is we will be able to meet this requirement without touching the school budget! Plus, we will be able to purchase additional books with our remaining credit! YEA!!!!

Support 2nd Annual Coat/Blanket Drive

As we celebrate the Thanksgiving Season, we are reminded of God's many blessings. In our thankfulness GCA will be partnering with Southwest Georgia Farm Credit in their Second Annual Community Coat and Blanket Drive. The drive will begin Monday, November 8th and will end on Tuesday, November 30th. Five Points Dry Cleaners is donating the cleaning service and the Decatur County Family Connection will coordinate distribution of the cleaned items.

New or gently worn coats, jackets, or blankets would be greatly appreciated (mittens/gloves or hats should be new.)

Cougar Basketball - Grace vs. Faculty

Grace vs. Faculty

And

MS/JV Teams Scrimmage

Check out the 2010-11 Cougar Basketball teams as they take

on the faculty. It all starts at 5:00 on Friday the 5th of November.

The Middle School and JV girls will play and inter-squad scrimmage followed by the boys MS/JV inter-squad scrimmage at 5:30. The final games will be between the varsity teams and their old teachers, coaches, and GCA's corporate athletic sponsors. We will have spectator contests between each game, so bring you game shoes.

We will be selling pizza, hotdogs, chips, and more in the concession stand, so come hunry. We will also be selling some Cougar Jerseys. (Probably some teacher's old jersey)

Cost is free for GCA students and $2 for everyone else.

Varsity Cross Country has a Muddy but Good Finish

The boys' and girls' varsity cross country teams completed their 2010 season in the mud surrounding Maclay School during the Tallahassee All-Comers Cross Country Championship.The Lady Cougars, led by Perra Harrell placed seventh in field of nine teams, well ahead of Wewahitchka and Marianna High Schools. Perra Harrell placed second in a field of 74 runners while posting a personal record of 22:08 in the 5k meter event. The boys also recorded a strong performance as they bested both Aucilla Christian Academy and Godby High School in the nine team field.

Winter Festival T-Shirt Orders Due Nov. 1

Kim Mills has done it again...she has created another wonderful logo for our 10th Annual Winter Festival. This year the shirt choices will be a shapphire color t-shirt, gray long-sleeves, and a black hooded sweatshirt with the 3-color logo shown here.
Order forms were sent home last week and orders need to be turned into the office by Monday, November 1st.
Please mark your calendar for Tuesday, November 30th....great fun for the entire family!

1st Grade Enjoys Aplin Farms

Mrs. Harrell and Mrs Morgan's first grade class enjoyed a wonderful field trip to Aplin Farms in Dothan, AL this past Friday. They visited pumpkin and sunflower fields where they each got to choose their own pumpkin and sunflower. They also enjoyed the petting barn and other educational farm activities. Everyone had a great time!

"Character Pumpkins" Created by 4th Grade

Mrs. Sheffield's 4th grade class celebrated Fall by creating pumpkin characters. Each pumpkin was created to look like their favorite character from one of AR books in the school library. Each student was then asked to "show & tell" about their pumpkin, character and book in class.

Congratulations Coach Justin

Congratulations to Coach Justin Gravlee for being named the new Director of the Bainbridge College Student Wellness Center. Justin currently is pursuing a bachelor's in sports and fitness management at Troy State. He has served GCA for the past several years in different capacities which have included Athletic Director, Tennis Coach, Soccer Coach, and PE Instructor. Again Congratulations Justin and God Bless! You will be greatly missed!!

GCA Graduate Cuts Ribbon on New Building

Congratulations to our own Jana Simmons for having the opportunity to "Cut the Ribbon" on the new Student Wellness Center at Bainbridge College. Jana serves as the Student Government Association President for the College and the beautiful new building was built in honor of the students. Jana is a 2010 Honor Graduation of Grace Christian Academy and she is assisted in the photo by Bainbridge College President Tom Wilkerson. Way to Go Jana!!!

Oct./ Nov. Basketball Practice Schedule

Donuts For Dads

GCA 4th & 5th Graders hosted their annual "Donuts for Dads" event on

October 21st from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. A wonderful group of dads were in attendance this year and enjoyed some great food and fellowship with their children!

Youth Leadership Nom. Due Nov. 5th

The Bainbridge-Decatur County Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring the 13th Annual Youth Leadership Program beginning in Jan. 2011. The Youth Leadership Steering Committee is now accepting nominations for this program. Nominees must be a Sophmore or Junior at either BHS or GCA or home-schooled in Decatur County.
The Decatur County Youth Leadership program is designed to develop leadership skills, offer interaction opportunities in our county, and increase awareness of community issues, needs and resources.
Participants will be expected to attend a twelve hour retreat followed by a ten week program including 6 classes designed by the UGA J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership. Classes will be on Monday evenings.
If you would like to nominate a GCA student for this wonderful program, call the Chamber at 246-4774 and give the student's name and address so they can receive an application. The nomination deadline is Friday, November 5th.

Basketball Tryouts - Oct. 21, 25 & 29

Basketball tryouts will begin this week with the Boys' JV & Varsity (8th - 12th) on Thursday, October 21st - 3:15-5pm. Monday, Oct. 25th the Girls' JV & Varisty will tryout (7th - 12th) at 3:15 - 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29th will be the Boys and Girls' Middle School (5th - 8th) tryouts from 3:15 - 5 p.m.

Finer Things - Friday, October 29th

That's right! The long-awaited, hard work of our middle and high school students will be on display once again. Please plan to bring the whole family out to this enteraining and inspiring evening of live music with choir, band instruments, strings and more! Come watch as they sing a variety of songs based on the book of Malachi from the Old Testament.
The students are tackling some outstanding music in genres ranging from gospel to contempary classics to lush-harmony hymns and even more. Solos will be performed by numerous students and our strings program will debut once again. Mark your calendars now as you do not want to miss this awesome event!!

Varsity Soccer Ends with Shutout!

The GCA Varsity Soccer Team completed the regular season with a resounding 3-0 shutout of the Open Bible Christian Warriors. The team finished with a record of 8 wins, 5 losses and 0 draws. The Cougars are the PCC East Region Regular Season Champions and have earned a bye during the preliminary round of the East Regional Championship. The Cougars will host the winner of the match between #2 Seed Emmanuel Christian and #3 Seed Northside Methodist on Saturday, October 16th at 12 Noon. The match will be held at the Bainbridge-Decatur County YMCA. Please come out and support Cougar Soccer!!

GCA to Host Regionals - Oct. 15th & 16th

GCA will host the PCC Regionals for Volleyball and Soccer the weekend of Oct. 15th & 16th. The Volleyball tournament will be held on Friday, October 15th with the Lady Cougars playing at 6:30 p.m. All-Conference awards will be given out at 6:00 p.m.
The Soccer Championship game will be held on Saturday, October 16th with the cougars receiving a bye for the first round. An exciting weekend for Grace Christian. Way to go Cougars!!!

Coca-Cola Sale Successful

Many thanks to everyone that participated and supported our recent Coca-Cola sale. The Booster Club raised over $800! We had several outstanding students that did a wonderful job with this fundraiser. Congratulations to our 1st place winner, Anna Belle Adams in K4 who sold 30 cases and won the Mello Yello bicycle. 2nd place winner was Landon Deen in K3 who sold 25 cases and received a Sony Waslkman Video MP3 player. Our 3rd place winner, Darrick Smalley in 3rd grade sold 24 cases and won a video MP3 player. Way to go guys!!!

Volleyball - Lady Cougars are Season Champs

Congratulations to our Lady Cougar Volleyball team on being regular season Champs and being seeded #1 for the East Regional Tournament that will be held at Grace the weekend of Oct. 15th.
Congrats Girls!!!

NHS Inducts 4 New Members

Grace Christian Academy's National Honor Society inducted 4 new members at an Induction Ceremony on September 27th, 2010. NHS officers performed the Induction Ritual recognizing the candidates for academic, character, and conduct excellence. Officers for the group include President Tad Young, Vice President Kyle Harris, Secretary Taylor McDonald, Treasurer Stephanie Mills, Reporter Ladson Simmons, and Project Chairmen Mary Ann Adams and Abbey Smith.

Congratulations to the following new members of GCA's NHS: Ashston Anderson, Michael Evans, Beth Ann Hodges and Bryce McQuaid. Other standing members include - Brock Bailey, T.J. Carlisle, Sydney Harrell, Sara Lynn Hodges, Sloane Willgins, Lauren Carraway, Christina Greene, Kishan Patel, Emma Heard, Alex McLendon, and Caylin Walsingham.

GP Day Breaks Records

The 2nd Annual Grandparents Day was a huge success with over 300 in attendance! Everyone enjoyed some wonderful goodies prepared by Lisa McLendon; entertainment from the 5th grade, the GCA Strings program and the HS Praise Band and Choir; 2 exciting videos and a presentation by the GCA Foundation Chairman, Bill Burke. Following the program, the grandparents had the opportunity to visit the classrooms and see their grandchildren at work. Many thanks to the GCA Foundation and GCA's awesome Faculty and Staff for hosted another wonderful event!!

Class of 2012 Receive Rings

The GCA Class of 2012 recently celebrated their rising status with an official Ring Ceremony. A representative of Spud Bowen & Associates of Tifton gave a brief history of the Class Ring and presented each Junior with their new ring.

The Class Ring, as we know it today, originated in the year of 1835 and was purchased by Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. This custom spread rapidly as a means of perpetuating the ideals and traditions of the School attended.

Congratulations Juniors!!

See You At the Pole - Sept. 22nd

See You At The Pole will be this Wednesday morning, Sept. 22nd @ 7:20 a.m. around the Grace flagpole. See You at the Pole is an annual gathering of Christian students of all ages at a flagpole in from of their school for prayer, scripture reading and singing. SYATP occurs every year on the fourth Wednesday of September, preceding the start of the school day. During the evening, area church youth ministries unite to worship and celebrate. This year the city-wide event will be at at the Grace gym at 6:00 p.m.

Ring Ceremony - September 23rd

The Junior class will have their Ring Ceremony on Thursday, September 23rd at 10:30 a.m. in the OS (Old Sanctuary). Friends and relatives are invited to attend this exciting event for our GCA Jrs.

Grandparents' Day - September 24th

MARK YOUR CALENDARS...

The Second Annual

Grandparents' Day @ GCA

Friday, September 24, 2010

9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Come join the Grace Family and see what your grandchildren experience everyday. Meet our teachers, learn about our activities and programs and even enjoy a tour!

Coca-Cola Drink Sale

The GCA Booster Club is in the process of raising money to support all the athletic teams. Please consider helping us in this effort by doing something you are probably going to do anyway...just by purchasing your favorite Coke product through GCA instead of your local store. Forms are being sent home to all students; however, if you do not receive one and are interested in helping out, please contact any GCA athlete or the office for your order form. All orders must be in by September 29th as product will be delivered Oct. 1st.

Creation Cookies Are Fun

Mrs. Cox K4 students enjoyed making and eating their Creation Cookies that they made last week!
Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Making Friends Is Fun

Making friends is what pre-school is all about. These precious children enjoy Mrs. Morris class.

Morris Kids Make Art with Shapes

Mrs. Morris K-4 Students enjoy making art with shapes they are learning about!

89 Students Earn Free Day!

Many, Many thanks to all the hard work of our students, parents, and faculty for making this years Magazine Sale a success...over $8,000 was rasied for GCA!! We had 89 students sell 6 or more magazine subscriptions which earned them a free day on October 7th...they will get to start their fall break a day early! Way to Go!!!

2010-2011 School Calendar

Mag. Sales Last Day.....September 8th

Our 2010 QSP Magazine drive is quickly coming to a close. Our last turn-in day will be next Wednesday, September 8th with prize day on the 10th.

Here are some of the prize opportunities for the final days....

FREE DAY out of school for Thursday, October 7th only takes 6 orders.

Pick A Pop, Pick A Duck and Cash prizes only takes 3 orders to participate.

Jelly Rings, Magic Bank, Apple Shape Speakers, $100 Pillow and Mixing deck are a few of the other prizes you can win!

Parents - Thank you so much for your help and support with this year's magazine sales. These type of fundraisers help keep GCA's tuition the lowest in the region!

Moms In Touch Starts September 7th

Become a part of a worldwide community of mothers praying for our children and schools! Meet Elizabeth Simmons at her house (2102 Back Lake Circle, Bainbridge) Tuesday, September 7 @ 8:15 a.m. to find out how you can be a part of "Moms In Touch."

Cougars Open Season in Fort Walton Beach

On August 27, 2010, Couch Justin Gravlee's Cougars traveled to Fort Walton Beach, FL to compete in the Panhandle Christian Conference East - West Challenge. This tournament was created to allow teams for the East Region to compete against the teams of the West.

In their season opener, the Cougars found themselves paired against the host team, the Calvary Christian Academy Patriots. The Cougars took and early lead in the 28th minute when Kyle Harris found the back of the next from 25 yards away. The Patriots answered with a successful shot from the back post following a corner kick.

The Patriots then took the lead, scoring from close range after an initial shot was deflected by goalkeeper Grant McDonald. With one minute remaining in regulation play, Chase Harris scored the equalizer.The officials informed both teams that a penalty shoot-out would follow. Seven Cougars took kicks from the 12-yard mark, but only Taylor McDonald and Kyle Harris were able to convert their kicks. Meanwhile, three Patriots made good on their penalty kicks and Calvary was ultimately awarded the win.

The following morning, the Cougars took the rain-soaked field against the Central Christian School Saints, the winners of six consecutive PCC Championships. As was anticipated, a very physical match ensued. In the 24th minute, Bryce McQuaid guided a perfectly-placed ball past the Saints' keeper. Throughout the game, the tenacious Cougar defense, led by Grand McDonald, was able to repel Central's repeated attacks. When the final whistle blew, the Cougars celebrated a well-earned 1-0 victory.

Less than two hours later, the Cougars faced the Trinitas Christian Knights for the final game of the weekend. After a few minutes, it was fairly obvious that the Cougars were going to be a little flat following the emotional win earlier that day. Despite the fact, Taylor McDonald put the Cougars on the board in the 15th minute when he fired a rocket shot from just beyond the 18 yard line. Six minutes later, Trinitas answered with a shot from the back post resulting from a free kick. With only three minutes remaining and a tie game on the line, a foul was committed in the box and the officials awarded the Knights a penalty kick. The resulting kick was successful and the game ended in a 1-2 loss for the Cougars.

Lady Cougars Dominate Patriot Games

The Grace Lady Cougars won the Enterprise Prep Academy Patriot Games Volleyball Tournament this past weekend. They finished the round robin tournament with a record 11-1 to capture the championship. Teams included Enterprise Prep Academy lady Patriots of Enterprise, AL; Dale County Christian School Lady Crusaders of Ozark, AL; Ashford Academy Lady Falcons of Ashford, Al; Emmanuel Christian School Lady Warriors of Dothan, AL; Edgewood Academy Lady Lynxes of Elmore, AL; Meadowview Christian School Lady Trojans of Selma, AL and the Lady Cougars.
Brock Bailey was named Tournament MVP, Emma Heard was selected all-tournament along with Brock and Sydney Harrell received the Tournament Director's Sportsmanship Award. Congratulations Lady Cougars!!!