Grace Academy

On Oct. 23 and Oct. 24, awards were given to the students who read the most pages for the Summer Reading Program at Grace Academy. Thirty-six students in grades one to five participated, and a total of 65,127 pages were read by those students.  The students who were the ravenous readers in grades one and two were Hanna Casto with 3,024 pages read and Lauren Leather with 2,604 pages read.  The ravenous readers in grades three to five were...

The elementary and middle school programs at Grace Academy had the opportunity to be a part of the Lego Robotics League.  Students who signed up for the extracurricular program participate weekly to learn about STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, principles.  The program is in the beginning stages of development. Students have been working in small groups to complete Lego building challenges that will grow to include robotics.  Beginning this month, they will be working in small groups to solve problems, demonstrate teamwork and use the engineering design process within the WeDo and Mindstorm Lego software to build robots that complete various challenges.  This year, the students will display their robotics challenges at a spring educational showcase at Grace Academy, which is off Cearfoss Pike.

While there, they were given the opportunity to learn about global crises and challenged to make a difference. One topic that made an impact on the group was the issue of sex trafficking. Upon their return from the conference, they began brainstorming on how to raise awareness of the 27 million worldwide sex slaves. On March 2, the students gave an awareness presentation chapel at Grace Academy, which included statistics and solutions. All high school students were led into the chapel blindfolded in order to simulate a kidnapping, which set the stage for the presentation.

Technology is moving faster than lightning, and Grace Academy is trying hard to keep up with the challenge. The 2011-12 school year ended with a bang and school officials are excited to start the 2012 - 13 year with enriched technology opportunities. The school has moved ahead with its technology integration vision in many ways. It has upgraded its wireless capability to handle the many laptops supplied by the Government Surplus Agency.  In the next school year, Grace will pilot its Bring Your Own Device program in grades 11 and 12.   It will also be rolling out Google Apps accounts for students in grades six through 12.  With this new project, the world of teacher and student collaboration is increasing.

Grace Academy recently conducted its annual spelling bee for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Winners in each class were: Sarah Patalinghug, kindergarten; Christian Drury, grade 1A; Maddy Smith, grade 1B; Tabitha Schneider, grade 2; Tyler Reese, grade 3A; Eli Burnett, grade 3B; Paul Previti, grade 4A; Rachel Turner, grade 4B; Maddy Smith, grade 5; and Laura Ritenour, grade 6.

Grace Academy Third quarter Distinguished honor roll Grade 7 - Lauren Serafini. Grade 8 - Peter Hykes, Sarah Stayer. Grade 9 - Victoria Aikens, Kaitlyn Mitchell, Samraat Saxena. Grade 10 - Kenny Frederickson, Zachary Morgan, Caleb Serafini, Jame Shurnitski. Grade 11 - Hannah Barger, Isaiah Kimpel, Kayla Previti, Keith Sandell, Steven Wolfe. Grade 12 - Benjamin Barnett, Lauren Cox, Katelyn Hardcastle, Noah King, Robert Wolfe III. Honor roll Grade 7 - Jeb Shingler, Camryn Steward, Devon Umstead.

Grace Academy moving again By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer For the fourth time in its 24-year history, Grace Academy has moved to accommodate increasing enrollment. The school building at 530 N. Locust St. served the Christian private school's needs for around 20 years, but as enrollment swelled to 285 it became clear a new building was needed, said Administrator Dennis Hoffman. Students, teachers and administrators were busy packing up supplies and taking them to the new site on Cearfoss Pike this week.

An original film produced and performed by Grace Academy students and faculty will be shown Tuesday at Leitersburg Cinemas at 6:30 p.m. The movie is titled “I Saw The Light.” Everything is going just as planned for Thomas Johnathan Wright until a little girl's miraculous story changes his life forever. Thomas learns that life's choices can be narrowed down to just one ... life or death. “It was quite an undertaking, but the students who performed, filmed and edited the movie did a phenomenal job within a short amount of time,” said Lori Boutieller, performing arts teacher and writer and producer.

Grace Academy raised $31,100 at its recent auction and dinner. The school would like to thank the following sponsors: Gold sponsors: Jack and Judy Appleby, JLJ General Maintenance, AE Sweeney Masonry Inc. and CSI Cooling Services Inc. Silver sponsor: Capitol Drywall Inc. Bronze sponsors: Lifetime Insurance and Financial Essentials Inc., High Rock Studios, BCT Bank of Charles Town, Concrete Central LLC, Hagerstown-Washington County...