Lady Eagles Advance to Semi-Finals

Keely serving as Coach Little looks on

In what proved to be a straightforward series yesterday, the Lady Eagles varsity volleyball team met and defeated the Park Hill Chargers for a spot in the Front Range Christian Athletic Association's State Volleyball Tournament on Saturday, October 25.

With solid serving, some powerful attacking shots, and consistent defensive play, the Eagles won the match in three with scores of 25-12, 25-10, and 25-19.

Senior Becca Pranger led the starting line-up alongside Heather Burdges, Keely Campbell, Kate Lundy, Sydney McManamay, and Alli Dages.  Maddie Montera and Tori McManamay lent support from the bench and both saw playing time during the match.

"You girls have really come together as a team, and we're at our strongest going into the tournament," coach Ben Little told the team in the huddle after practice today.  "We have a chance to do something really special if you keep playing as a team."  Athletic director Tom Navarrette added, "The girls have really worked hard and had a solid season - we're excited to travel to the tournament Saturday and cheer them on at the next level."

Heather passing...

Before the match began, fall sport senior athletes and their parents were recognized for their contributions to DPCA teams over the years.  Recognized for play on this year's boy's soccer team were seniors Seth Turner and Hawk White; recognized for her final volleyball season at DPCA was senior Rebecca Pranger.

Becca launching a powerful attack shot

Keely passes up to Heather for the set

Seniors Hawk, Becca, and Seth

Beauty

Mr. Ritschard, Administrator

Not long ago as I came in to school in the morning, I was struck once again by the beauty of the morning.  High mountain peaks with new snow rose above colored aspens and seemed to be proclaiming very clearly the creative and sustaining power of Almighty God. On a smaller scale, the plantings right around our front doors were showing off their autumn colors in a profusion of sunlit glory.

What have you seen today that is beautiful?  There is so much beauty in and around DPCA - and the plants and scenery, as beautiful as they are, are the least among the beautiful in our school.  We're blessed with the beauty of learning and of a new thought that brings us a little closer to understanding our great God.  We can rejoice in the beauty of our student's hearts as they find grace from day to day, and continue learning what it means to walk with Jesus.  There's the early Monday morning beauty of a small group of volunteers praying for our school, and the early Wednesday morning beauty of the staff gathering to recenter in Scripture and in prayer in the middle of each week.  Someone walking the halls here will hear the beauty of laughter, see the beauty of students working purposefully, and rejoice in the beauty of hearts growing toward the Lord.  We are blessed with beauty each and every day!

What's beautiful in your setting?  One of the elements of a grateful heart, I believe, is appreciating the beauty around us.  Let me encourage each of us to rejoice in the beautiful today, and especially to rejoice in the beauty of the Lord  - as David put it, "to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord."  (Psalm 27:4)  The more we appreciate the beauty of creation, and the beauty of the Lord, the more I think we will be blessed by a grateful and contented heart.

Crossing the Threshold

by Mr. Ritschard, Administrator

Aberlyn and Mikayla reading!

Without a doubt, one of the most exciting moments in our kindergartner's lives and in our kindergarten classroom is when our students start to read!

This morning I had the privilege of stepping in to the kindergarten classroom for a few minutes just to say good morning, and caught a couple of the girls reading...

As much as we hear about science, technology, and math education these days, reading remains THE fundamental academic and life skill. If we can't read (and read well), we can't use our technology very well, or understand that text message, or decipher that note from a loved one.  It's hard to continue on with other learning in history, or in science, or even in math, without the ability to read well. Most importantly from my perspective, if we can't read we are unable to explore the Scriptures for ourselves and discover all the riches that the Lord has for us in His Word.

So I am so excited about our strong reading program here at DPCA, and excited to be welcoming another class of kindergartners to the exciting world of the written word as they cross the threshold of understanding and enter in to the wide world of being able to read!

Blessed to be a Blessing

BV Town Rec Monday morning Pickle Ball at DPCA

Abraham is listening to the Lord in Genesis chapter 12, and hears the remarkable command to leave his family and his country and "go to the land I [God] will show you."  Abraham must have been pretty amazed - but what God says next must also astonish him: "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing."

The great thing is that Abraham obeys, and so we get to see unfolding through Scripture and history the rise of the Jewish nation.  We also get to see, right from the beginning of God's work through Abraham, that blessing is for blessing:  God blessed Abraham so that Abraham and the nation of Israel would in different ways and in different places be a blessing to the world.  As the story progresses we see that God's ultimate blessing to the world, His son Jesus, is brought into the human world through Israel. 

Hawk carries a mulch bag at a DPCA service project at Trail West

In keeping with our commitment to make Biblical principles our foundation, one of our core values at DPCA is to honor the Lord's blessings to us by seeking to be a blessing to our community and our world.  We hope and trust we bless our community by offering Christian education that helps our students form strong foundations in character and Biblical understanding.  We also seek to be involved in other ways: regular service projects in which our students contribute their strength and abilities to help others around town; our World Vision Projects through our chapel offerings that help us keep a global perspective in mind; making our school facilities available for community activities such as the Monday morning Pickle Ball with BV Recreation, Civil Air Patrol meetings, and the like; and helping to promote other positive community activities among our school family, such as the Pregnancy Center's Walk for Life, or the recent BV Strong community dinner.

Chase gives a big thumbs up to the crew spreading mulch at Trail West

We're grateful for the opportunities that we have to serve, and we're grateful for suggestions that help us find those connections where our resources - whether it is facilities or student muscle - can help to meet a need.  We're praying that we will keep growing as individuals and as a school  in our understanding of how we can be a blessing to our community, and that the Lord will supply many opportunities for us to flex our "serving muscles."

Need to Brush Up on Geometry?

This week at DPCA we're experimenting with some ways to help absent students stay up to date.  We're also finding that posting some of the exercises in various places can help students review illustrations given in class.  Here Mrs. Ritschard posts a Geometry construction from today that she recorded for an absent student.

Technology can add some pretty cool dimensions to our efforts as teachers!

Michelangelo and Seurat

Mrs. Euler teaches the lesson...

And the students get to practice feeling like Michelangelo!

This month, 3rd through 6th grade students learned about two very well-known artists, Michelangelo and Georges Seurat. The students learned about Michelangelo and his painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and also learned about pointillism (painting with tiny dots) while studying the painting Bathers at Asnières (1884) by Seurat. Mrs. Euler taught the art lesson for the combined grades, and then the students practiced  the skills used by these two artists by trying to illustrate their favorite Bible story while lying on their back and by illustrating their favorite leisure activity by using tiny little dots.

Lilyangelo and Mistyangelo practicing in the 5th/6th room

3rd and 4th grade students painting on their "Sistine" desks