Tap into TAPPS

Last week several staff members from coaches to administration headed to Waco, TX for the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) Conference. TAPPS is an organization that serves BCS and schools like us by providing an organized academic and sports alignment for competitions such as Seasonal Sports, Math, Calculator Use, Science, One Act Play, Prose, Poetry, Speech, Spelling, Art, Photography, Short Film, and so many more. The annual conference is to educate coaches, teachers, and staff on the opportunities for competition and familiarize them with the rules for each category.

TAPPS also uses this opportunity to hand out individual awards and school awards that were achieved throughout the year. Coach Ricky Austin won Male Coach of the year for this past school year, and Elijah Burris won Athlete of the year as well. Not only did we have coaches and students highlighted, but out of the 77 schools that are in our 1A division, BCS placed in 6th place overall! We are so excited about how close we are to winning the “Henderson” Award which goes to the top school in each category from 1A to 6A. To receive this award, our school must excel not just in sports, but in the academics competitions as well. The more students that we have participate in the academic categories, the more chances our school has to win.

Laura Sandler, our Fine Arts Director is very excited about the chances of taking home the Henderson award soon. There are so many categories that are still available for our students to participate in and it’s just a matter of time before we’re able to fill those slots and gather more points pushing us further up the line to the top space.

If your child is interested in participating in the TAPPS Academic competitions, please contact Laura Sandler at lsandler@1bcs.org or the secondary office.

Bella Notte – Junior and Senior Prom 

The end of the school year is drawing near and for some of our students it brings on the excitement of a few traditions that they’ve come to expect in April and May. As they’ve seen from the years prior to them, the Jr. and Sr. classes enjoy prom where they get to dress up in their best and spend an evening feeling glamorous and dancing the night away. This year’s Prom was held at The Springs Event Center in Angleton, and as the last big event prior to graduation, it was a night to remember! The theme this year was Bella Notte (Beautiful Night) and Seth Henderson and Faith Simmons were crowned BCS King and Queen. Congratulations!

8th Grade Lock-In

Another tradition that our students look forward to each year is the class Lock-in. This is a GALA Auction item that Amanda Mize with Edward Jones and The Miska Family with TJ’s Lube purchased for their 8th graders. Friday evening, parents dropped off their 8th grade students for a night of fun as the kiddos were locked in the secondary building for the night. Thank you to the volunteers who helped make this year’s lock-in a huge success! The students enjoyed a space themed escape room, Alien Attack Game, Food and drink (especially Dr. Pepper), Minute to Win it Games, Scavenger Hunt, and over 6 hours of 9 square!! We hope they made memories and enjoyed the festivities of the night!

Children’s Museum Field Trip

Our First grade students along with Mrs. Cravey and Mrs. Ramos attended the Houston Children’s Museum recently for a field trip. At BCS, we believe that field trips help to inspire creativity and provide hands-on learning experiences that help aid in the instruction of the classroom curriculum. Plus, let’s be honest, field trips are just FUN!! First grade had a blast playing and learning at the Children’s Museum Exhibits!

Senior Variety Show

The Senior Variety show is a long standing tradition for BCS. Each year, the Seniors get together and put on skits for some good old fashioned entertainment as they share their talents. This year’s Variety Show was themed in Luau and the students really put on a show!

Birds of Prey Show

BCS had the privilege of watching the Birds of Prey show, sponsored by TJ’s Lube. There were 5 different birds including a vulture, owl, and hawk on display. The birds did tricks for treats and the speaker educated our students about each species of bird and their specific traits. Thank you TJ’s Lube for sharing this special treat with our students!

Annual Egg Drop

Informative Direct Links:

BCS Podcast: https://1bcs.org/podcasts/

BCS Newsletter:
https://1bcs.org/eagle-updates-newsletter/

Golden Eagle Sign-up Link:
https://1bcs.org/golden-eagle-club/

The end of the 2022/23 school year is on the horizon and BCS is full of activities! From educational opportunities and sports, to senior recognition and testing, there is something going on each week that keeps our school calendar full! Be sure to keep up with goings on weekly via the school newsletter sent out by Mr. Sikes, or you can catch up with things that happened recently with the school blog sent out by Anna Magallanes, and you can keep in touch with goings on and other information via our school podcast hosted by Mr. Burris.

Recently our lower school was blessed to participate in a Seder lead by Mr. Shane Newby, one of our board members, and parent to students at BCS. He took the time to set up the different elements of the Seder and explained the meaning of the elements and led a full ceremony.

Mrs. Wied shared words below on why it is important to BCS that our students learn with hands-on experiences:

At BCS, we know that children learn best by being involved in hands-on learning. When teaching Missions it is essential to encourage the students by creating interactive experiences. Whether it’s learning about Moses and his encounter with God at the burning bush or understanding the Exodus of the Israelites and the ten plagues by enjoying a candy activity. Artistic creativity also helped students gain understanding of the Lord’s sacrifice as they painted their own scene of the first communion. Elementary 1st-5th grade students were blessed to participate in a Seder that included elements symbolic of the difficulty and celebration of the Israelites release from Egyptian slavery. We give glory and honor to God for the opportunity to teach the students about Him and his kingdom. We serve the risen savior Jesus Christ and praise His name.

~ Mrs. Wied

8th Grade Field Trip

GALA was a recent fun event that helped raise funds for our school, but also provided fun opportunities for some of our students and families! Our 8th grade students had the opportunity to attend a field trip to Galveston and play at The Pleasure Pier. Thank you to the Gilbert Family for sharing your Bucket Raffle Winnings with the 8th Grade Class! We believe that students should have a rigorous quality education, but we also believe that there should be time for rest and play! We hope you had fun 8th Graders!

Valedictorian and Salutatorian Announcement

It’s almost May which brings us to the end of another great school year! As we are all wrapping up in our classrooms and offices, we are eager to have the summer break upon us bringing fun and relaxation after the school year. However, for some students, this is the summer they will have in their memories forever, as the last summer prior to entering the workforce or furthering their education in a higher educational institution. Congratulations to the class of 2023, we hope you carry your memories and relationships with you as you leave our campus to follow your dreams. Congratulations to the Class of 2023, especially to Seth Henderson our Valedictorian, and Caleb Seal our Salutatorian!

Jr. Class Career Fair at College

Dates to be mindful of:

April 19th – Birds of Prey Sponsored by TJ’s Lube, Clute
April 21st – 8th Grade Lock-In
April 21st – Prom
May 1-5 – Teacher Appreciation Week
May 3rd – Senior Walk and Chapel
May 8th – 6-12th Grades Academic Awards
May 15th – Junior High Sports Awards at Lunch
May 15th – High School Sports Awards Ceremony

School Calendar Link: https://1bcs.org/campus-life/school-calendar/

Twice a year, Brazosport Christian School gears up to serve our local community.  This requires months of prep work to ensure we can smoothly transport over 300 students and teachers to various locations in our community to serve in different ways.  This year’s Spring Serves Day, our school helped by planting plants, cleaning parks, sidewalk chalking art for the elderly to enjoy on their afternoon walks, sorting through donated items and getting them ready for resale, collecting food for the hungry, and more.  One of the qualities we like to instill in our students is serving with a loving heart.  Before we set off to serve, we remind our students that this day is supposed to be fun, and also and more importantly, it’s an opportunity to help others.  Our goal is to teach our students through bible study, weekly worship, and twice annually serve day’s,  that serving is what God ordains us to do.

Seth Liles, one of the Bible Teachers at BCS had this to share about our Service Day:

Have you ever asked yourself, “What is God’s plan for my life”? Well, as with any question we have in life, the first place we ought to turn to for answers is God’s very own words to us.

Romans 8:29 CSB reads,

“For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.

We find here that it is God’s plan, Ephesians 1:4 says “before the foundation of the world”, that we should grow in Christlikeness. But how do we do this? It is not enough to merely know what to do. The thought doesn’t count. We know we ought to eat better, exercise more, and be more healthy. And yet to grow in health requires making healthy choices. The knowledge must be put into action.

This is what the Sophomore Bible class at BCS has been working to accomplish. With Donald S. Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life and 1 Timothy 4:7-8, “Train yourself in godliness. For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way.” As our theme verse, we have been taking practical steps to “grow in godliness”.

We have studied and practically engaged in several Spiritual Disciplines and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the year. We have worked through some that one would expect, such as bible intake, prayer, silence and solitude, and even fasting. There are also some that one may not expect, such as journaling, learning, stewardship, and serving. Each thoroughly examined and practiced for the sake of godliness. Not out of obligation or in effort to gain God’s love and favor or earn salvation, but from a place of joyful obedience because we have been saved by grace, we strive to grow in our personal relationship and experience with our heavenly Father who already loves us and calls us His sons and daughters.

One really exciting aspect of this class is not only the chance to have conversations about Spiritual Discipline, but also the chance to put our words into actions. After each we spend time discussing each discipline, looking at the biblical examples, the history and traditions, and practical application, we then actually discipline ourselves with that exercise. This is most recently seen as we looked at the discipline of serving. After hearing from Mr. Whitney that “serving is one of the most sure and practical means of growth in grace”, and “serving typically looks as unspectacular as the practical needs it seeks to meet”, we concluded this particular unit by participating in BCS serves day. As I stood and watched my students serve at Harvest for the Hungry, assisting this organization as they help feed people in our community who are nutritionally insecure, I was able to see words on a page and conversation in a classroom come alive. As these students presented themselves as a living sacrifice, loving their neighbor as themselves, this became a snapshot of what BCS is all about. The students have learned to live out this second half of what Jesus called the greatest commandment because they are in a school environment that cultivates and demonstrates the first half of that commandment; loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 12:28-31).

This is stated in the mission for BCS. To “provide families academic excellence with a Biblical worldview and equip students with qualities of knowledge, character, leadership, and service to the glory of God.” This moment was built on a biblical worldview, offering grade-level specific bible classes as part of a rigorous curriculum.

“Academic excellence with a biblical worldview” is accomplished through a curriculum which intentionally focuses on the God who created math, science, art, and language for our good and His glory. This should cause us to love God more.

“Equipping students with knowledge” leads them to love God with their mind. To use the gifts of logic and reason to learn more about God and His creation.

“Equipping students with character” fosters a heart that loves God. This is accomplished through the high expectations placed on the students. To be young men and women of integrity. By taking time each week, during corporate worship chapel, to look at God’s word together and be reminded from various local pastors of the expectation God has for His children to be holy as He is.

“Equipping students with leadership” is how a student can love God with their soul. With the choices and struggles students face on a daily basis, they are given the tools needed to lead at all times in doing what is right. In the classroom, on the court, on the field, in the cafeteria, at home, and in the world.

“Equipping students with service” is a means to love God with all their strength. Psalm 100:2 gives the imperative, “Serve the Lord with gladness”. The life of a Christian is marked by serving like Jesus (John 12:12:17, 13:35). Knowing God more leads to loving God deeper. Loving God deeper moves us to glad obedience. Offering students the opportunity to serve their school and their community is a reasonable and necessary component of a student’s Christian education.

Seeing this vision move from a textbook, to a conversation, to the hands and feet of my students has been a remarkable opportunity. I am grateful to be a partner with Brazosport Christian School in the development, not of future leaders and influencers, but of those who are leading and catalyzing change for the better today.

Grace and Peace,
Seth Liles

Brazosport Christian School continually thanks our families for entrusting us with their children’s education, our teachers and staff for their continued examples and teachings, and our community for allowing us to serve them.

Dates to be mindful of:

April 3rd – Spring Ladies Social at Table of Grace – Information and ticket purchase on Facebook

April 3rd – Iowa Testing

April 6th – 2nd Grade Class Party sponsored by The Schaefer Family

April 12 – 13th – High School Academic TAPPS Competition

April 13th – Brazosport College Junior Career Fair

April 17th – Variety Show

April 19th – Birds of Prey Show – Sponsored by TJ’s Lube & The Miska Family

April 21st – 8th Grade Lock-In – Sponsored by Amanda Mize and The Miska Families

April 21st – Jr. & Sr. Prom

School Calendar Link: https://1bcs.org/campus-life/school-calendar/