“The CCS
Patriot”
Issue 6 - Extra-curricular activities
December, 2006
“Community Christian High School is established to
assist in the restoration of the American Christian family and nation; Equipping
Christian young people to be strong disciples of Jesus Christ, able and eager
to defend their faith and proclaim the Gospel in words and deeds.”
CCHS
Vision Statement
Last month we took some time to share what CCHS will offer students academically. I trust that you found this to be both informative and encouraging. We have set high academic standards for our students and they will be well prepared for whatever God has in store for them after high school. This month we will address another area that many parents have been wondering about. “What is the plan for extra-curricular activities at CCHS?”
Extra-Curricular Activities
This is one of the greatest struggles we face as we implement the high school program. In fact, I know there are some who think we should have waited to start the high school until we were large enough to offer a full-scale program with all of the extracurricular activities. We disagree with this view for a couple of reasons. First, we believe that the type of program we are offering is too important to wait until our numbers increase. Our students and families need this now. The second reason is that we cannot offer more activities without more students, and we have had a hard time keeping students without more activities. Like I said, this is one of the greatest dilemmas we face.
What I would like to propose is a change in thinking. Dream with me for a moment. What would happen if all of our students in 8th grade returned to CCS for 9th – 12th grades? Now I understand that this is an aggressive goal but I believe that when all the facts are laid out on the table and you, as Christian families, weigh your options and bath this decision in prayer it is possible. For arguments sake, lets say we retain 90% of our students from 8th to 9th grade and beyond. What will CCHS be able to offer with those kinds of numbers? Here is what we see…
Based on the 90% goal we would have 17 freshman and 4 sophomores next year. With those numbers we could offer both boy's and girl's basketball, volleyball, track, band, choir, speech, drama, and possibly even more if there is enough interest. These are activities that we could offer as a school, join the Minnesota State High School League and petition to get into a conference. In addition to these activities we are also actively pursuing cooperative efforts with area schools in activities that we will not be able to offer next fall. If God opens this door, our students will have access to additional activities that we cannot offer at this time. Pray that God will open the proper avenues, because it will not happen without Him.
Lets dream together a little longer and extend the 90% goal a few more years. This year’s 7th grade is smaller, so we would add 10 additional freshmen in 2008 for a total of 31 high school students. In 2009 we would add another 17 students bringing our high school totals to 48. This is with a class of just four seniors and only 10 sophomores in the year 2009-2010. With these kinds of numbers, the sky is the limit, particularly when you consider the class sizes coming up to replace our first senior class. With this type of retention, we could offer many of the activities that our students desire including such things as golf and possibly even football. It would still be necessary to maintain some cooperative agreements with area schools in activities that we are unable to offer, but as you can see, the key to offering more programs is more students. You can’t have one before you have the other.
To give you another perspective on extracurricular activities at a small school, I asked Mr. Elmhorst to share his story.
Having coached a variety of sports here for the
past eight years, I have a real passion for CCS athletics and envision a successful
high school sports program. I have been
extremely disappointed to coach so many fine athletes who, with very few
exceptions, have been lost in the “numbers game” at the high school level. I was fortunate to attend a smaller high
school and have fantastic recollections of playing and earning varsity letters
in three sports. They are by far my
fondest memories of high school. In
many ways I compare the difficult decision I had to make regarding what college
to attend to the choice of what high school offers our current students the
most realistic opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities. In my case, I knew I had the potential to
compete at the college level in football, but realized that if I attended a
Division I school I realistically would probably “ride the bench” for three
years and possibly see limited playing time as a senior. Instead, I opted to attend a Division 3
school where I enjoyed playing football as a varsity starter for four
years. I am convinced it was the right
choice for me, and I am also convinced that our kids can have a superior
experience at CCS. I look at the
phenomenal success that our boys basketball team has enjoyed this year playing
against “small” public schools and see that carrying over to the high school
level if they choose to stay and enjoy the benefits, thrills, and lessons
learned playing high school sports at CCHS.
I would like to thank Mr. Elmhorst for sharing his experience and I believe that families should carefully consider the points he makes regarding the benefits of participating at a smaller school versus a larger one. I also attended a smaller high school up until my senior year and played JV and varsity football for three years before moving to a large school my senior year and getting lost in the numbers game. I believe that if enough students and families commit to staying at CCS they will have a much more enjoyable and memorable experience playing sports for CCHS than they will at one of the larger schools in the area. The key to offering more sports is more students. We can only offer activities if we have enough students to field a team, and as Mr. Elmhorst stated, our Jr. High teams have historically done very well competing against other schools. There is no reason to believe that this success will not continue into high school if we have students stay at CCHS.
Thanks for taking the time to read each newsletter as it comes out. We hope that it is providing you and your family with the information you need to make an informed decision. We trust that each family will prayerfully consider their high school options. We respect the parent’s authority in the area of educating their children and we know that you as parents will make your decision based on what you believe is best for them. We also believe that CCHS will offer more, both academically and in the area of extracurricular activities, than the public schools. When you add the spiritual dimension to the equation, we believe the decision becomes even easier.
Community Christian High School will offer superior spiritual and academic training to our students. These are the most important aspects of any educational program. The quality and scope of our extracurricular program depends upon the number of families and students willing to attend a quality Christ-centered school that is in its infancy. We believe that God will do great things at CCHS and families and students that choose to be pioneers with us will look back on these early years and say, “Look at what God did! We are so fortunate to have been a part of it.”
Looking forward to serving alongside you equipping the saints,
Steve Masseth
High School Principal