Knight’s tale Issue I, Volume II Faith Christian Academy September 2015

Awesome Newbies

By Margarita McDonald

Faith Christian

Academy (FCA) has

twelve new students this

year. Their names are

Yvonne Lara, Hannah

Leon, Samuel Ledford,

Adrian/Pedro Montes,

Greggory Ried, Jasmine

Leon, Elijah Mendibles,

Miriam Timblin, Alanna

McQueen-Vargas,

Aracely Montes,

Gabbana Madrid, and

Kristina Montes. The

majority of the sixth

graders came from Gra-

cePointe Christian Acad-

emy. When asked if mid-

dle school was different

than elementary school,

all said yes, but each for

different reasons. Most

of them liked the differ-

ent class periods that al-

lowed them to transition

and move around

throughout the day. Ara-

cely Montes said she

liked that, “…people get

along together and this is

a Christian based school

and you get to learn

about Jesus.” A lot of

her classmates agreed. “I

like that it is a Christian

community and involves

Bible classes,” stated

Elijah Mendibles.

Some students

enjoy FCA for other rea-

sons. Greggory Ried was

happy about the work-

load being small. “I like

that I do not have very

much homework,” he

said with a smile.

Overall, the new

students seem to be hav-

ing a great start to this

school year and the sixth

graders are adjusting to

middle school very well.

FCA is happy to have

this new addition to the

family and everyone is

looking forward to hav-

ing an amazing school

year.

FCA Welcomes Three New Teachers

By: Victoria Padilla

For the 2015-

2016 school year, Faith

Christian Academy has

three returning teachers

in addition to the staff of

last year. Mrs. Misty

Reid is the Bible teacher

for all grades, Mr. Ben

Reid is teaching chemis-

try, and Miss. Jessica

Mendibles is teaching

Journalism and PE. Mrs. Misty’s fa-

vorite thing about teach-

ing is getting students

excited about God’s

word. She also loves to

hang out with her stu-

dents and get to know

them more. Mrs. Misty

says she likes teaching

Bible because it chal-

lenges her to see things

differently. She says, “I

love working here be-

cause the student body

is like a family.”

Mrs. Misty and

her husband have 6 chil-

dren which gives her a

lot of experience work-

ing with kids.

Page 2 Issue I, Volume II

Faith Christian

Academy (FCA) recently

started sponsoring a

child from the Domini-

can Republic.

Three of FCA’s

seventh-graders, Brianna

LaRoque, Kristal Ried,

and Myra LaRoque, pre-

sented the idea to Mrs.

Osterbaan, who contact-

ed Compassion Interna-

tional, a company that

helps third culture chil-

dren like Crislenny.

Through this company,

FCA has received the

opportunity to make a

difference in a young

girl’s life.

Her name is

Crislenny Mendoza and

she will be five years old

this year, on September

13th. For her birthday,

Mrs. Osterbaan suggest-

ed that every student

bring in thirteen nickels.

She came up with the

idea of thirteen because

her birthday is on the

13th and she decided on

nickels because of her

age.

Crislenny lives

with her mother and

three siblings. She is re-

sponsible for running the

errands for her family.

She hasn’t started Kin-

dergarten yet, but is cur-

rently attending Bible

classes regularly.

Some of her fa-

vorite things include

milk, the color pink,

dolls, and group games.

Crislenny is a wonderful

girl that needs support

and love in her life.

Crislenny and her

family speak Spanish, so

if students would like to

send her a letter they can

write it in Spanish. Any

students that do not

know Spanish are able to

write a letter in English

and Compassion Interna-

tional will translate it.

Any letters for

Crislenny can be given

to Mrs. Osterbaan, who

has been in contact with

Crislenny for the last few

months.

Tropical Storm

Erika struck the Domini-

can Republic on August

28th. Flooding and mud-

slides have been report-

ed, but Crislenny and her

family are currently safe

from the storm. There is

a jar located in the FCA

library for anyone who

would like to donate.

Please remember

Crislenny in thoughts

and prayers. Love and

support is vital to her

spiritual and physical

growth.

Crislenny: Girl From Dominican Republic By: Areli Stongheart

Mr. Ben, who is

married to Mrs. Misty,

has over five years of

experience teaching His-

tory, Science, English,

and Math. He enjoys

teaching at FCA because

he gets the opportunity

to work with Godly chil-

dren. Chemistry helps

his students appreciate

God’s creative world,

but he admits it is very

challenging. He likes

only teaching one class

so that he is able to give

the class his full atten-

tion.

Miss Jessica pre-

viously taught PE for

four years at another

school and worked as a

teacher's aide.

Miss Jessica has

past Journalism experi-

ence as a writer and edi-

tor of her high school

newspaper. She also

started writing for The

Tucson Citizen at the

age of 15. When asked

why she is working at

FCA, Miss. Jessica re-

sponded that she enjoys

the learning environ-

ment and likes what the

school stands for and

has achieved. She sees

potential for the school.

Faith Christian

Academy is certainly

fortunate to have these

teachers joining the staff

this year.

FCA Welcomes Three New Teachers (continued)

Faith Christian

Academy (FCA) stu-

dents have longed for a

new way to store and

organize their books and

supplies. With nearly

twice as many students

than last year, the cub-

bies we have been using

have become somewhat

archaic. There was a

pressing need to keep

backpacks and fragile

necessities safe and hav-

ing to share a small cub-

by didn’t work out as

one might have hoped.

After waiting

since the start of the

year, our new lockers

have finally arrived and

our wishes for organiza-

tion and privacy granted.

The lockers were ob-

tained by Mr. David

Garcia, Jeremiah Garci-

a’s dad. He also installed

them, along with Jeremi-

ah and Gabriel, Mat-

thew, and Paul Timblin.

I think the lockers are a

great upgrade from the

cubbies and have cer-

tainly increased order

while decreasing time

spent between classes

getting our materials.

Each student has

their own locker, so

there are no problems

with privacy or items

getting mixed up with

other students’ belong-

ings. Some parents

might want their kids to

have a cell phone for

emergencies and school

policy states that cell

phones must remain in

backpacks while on

school grounds. Back-

packs were previously

stored inside a large bin;

whomever had theirs on

the bottom would have a

great time fishing it out

and hoping their items

were still intact. Now we

don’t have to worry

about any issues arising

from that. These new

lockers have enough ca-

pacity for two back-

packs! Keeping books

and papers organized has

never been easier.

I’ve asked some

students if they like the

new lockers and they all

love them. “They’re a lot

more organized,” says

Gabriel Timblin. “They

hold more stuff,” says

Jeremiah Garcia. “No

one can steal anything

from them without mak-

ing a loud noise,” says

Kayla Huston.

I wasn’t too keen

on the fact that we

couldn’t have our back-

packs in our cubbies or

in class, but now it

doesn’t matter. This

year, thanks to the lock-

ers, the students at FCA

will be much more orga-

nized than any other.

Page 3

Cubbies vs. Lockers

By: Maurice Juceson

OPINION

No Kids in the Kitchen By: Jeremiah Garcia

I will be address-

ing a new rule that has

surfaced this year at

Faith Christian Academy

(FCA). This rule states

that students will no

longer be able to be in or

use the kitchen.

This is my third

year at FCA, and I am

somewhat frustrated be-

cause I was already com-

fortable using the kitch-

en for various reasons,

such as warming up food

or get silverware and

plates. I know that it

was a lot of work for the

teachers to clean the

kitchen, and I understand

that. I think it is kind of

weird that they would

take this privilege away.

When I asked

Tyler Huston about the

rule, he said that he did

not like it because he

was also accustomed to

using the kitchen, but he

said he would still sup-

port it. Talking with oth-

er several other students,

I noticed they all liked

the rule.

There is one ex-

ception, however. Stu-

dents will only be al-

lowed in the kitchen if

they are running the

“Snack Shack”, a place

for the students to buy

food, soda, chips, candy,

and other goodies.

I think I will end

up adjusting to the rule

just fine like everyone

else. It will just take

some time.

Issue I, Volume II

Wednesday's at

Faith Christian Acade-

my (FCA) are shorter

than the average school

day. Some students have

suggested that each

Wednesday should be a

free dress day. In my

opinion, I wouldn’t

mind, but some might

say that it will interfere

with the concentration

of the class. It would be

great to see everyone

express themselves and

show what their favorite

clothes are. They could

show off a favorite

game, sports team, mov-

ie, or anything.

The downside

could be petty argu-

ments about people’s

opinions on what prod-

uct, series, or sport

would be the best. Peo-

ple might be ridiculed

for the way they dress.

So long as everyone can

hold their opinions on

other’s clothing, there

should be no problem

with this idea.

Some students

are not fond of the cur-

rent uniforms due to

them being “plain” and

“uncomfortable.” Of

course, if students were

granted free dress on

Wednesdays, it would

be required that their

clothes comply with the

student handbook guide-

lines.

Out of twenty-

eight students inter-

viewed, nearly 90%

were in favor of this

proposal. Some students

didn’t prefer either way,

but no one was against

the idea. Most of the

“yes” voters stated that

they simply did not want

to wear the uniforms

and would love to ex-

press themselves

through their clothing. After speaking

with Mrs. Timblin about

the idea, she said she

thought it would be bet-

ter on Fridays, however,

because this will be

changing the handbook,

students need to write a

petition to the school

board for a free dress

day. She can then take it

to the school board for

them to vote.

Free Dress Wednesdays? By: Maurice Juceson

Page 4

Picture day was

August 31, 2015. It was

very different from my

experience at my former

public school. I liked it

because there were less

people, making it not as

crowded.

After talking to

some students and dis-

cussing how they felt

about picture, the con-

sensus was that overall it

was pretty good.

While talking to

some students about pic-

ture day, I asked them to

describe how it was dif-

ferent from other schools

they have attended.

Almost all the

students stated that the

immediate difference

that stood out was that

there were no backdrops

behind the students.

Greggory Reid,

thought that, “the day

was weird… students

don’t usually have it at

the same place that they

eat.’’

Hannah Leon

said that picture day was

fun, but she felt weird.

She said it was different

from her school because

there is usually a back-

drop for the picture.

Another student

named Miriam Timblin

said the day was good,

fun, and original.

Many students

seem excited to see how

their school pictures turn

out. Overall picture day

was a success.

FCA would like

to give a huge thank you

to the amazing photogra-

pher, Isabel Oroz, for

her hard work taking pic-

tures at FCA. She made

everyone’s experience

fun, quick, and simple.

For any students

that were absent on pic-

ture day or would like to

have their photo taken

again, Mrs. Isabel Oroz

will be at FCA on

Wednesday, September

23, 2015.

Say Cheese!

By: Yvonne Lara

OPINION

Issue I, Volume II

Faith Christian

Academy (FCA) held

their first fundraiser of

the 2015-2016 school

year. Students, parents

and staff members came

together to wash forty

cars. The car wash fund-

raiser was very success-

ful, making over $250

by both washing cars

and selling baked

goods.

Most of the stu-

dents came and had a

great time. This event

originally started out as

a result of a school-wide

competition last year

called Penny Wars.

Staff won the competi-

tion, and were awarded

a free car wash by the

students. However, the

administration decided

it would be more practi-

cal to turn this car wash

into a fundraiser to help

purchase more items for

the school.

When asked

what his thoughts on the

fundraiser were, Gabriel

Timblin stated serious-

ly, “The car wash raised

a lot of money and I

think everyone had a

good, fun time while

doing it.”

Everyone at

FCA is thankful for the

sponsors that helped

make the car wash such

a big success. AutoZone

and Prudential Overall

Supply donated nearly

everything needed for

washing the cars and

Epic Cafe donated

brownies and rice crispy

treats to sell. FCA hopes

to have more fun and

successful fundraisers

this year!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle By: Victoria Padilla

Workin’ At The Car Wash By: Margarita McDonald

Starting this year,

Faith Christian Academy

(FCA) is going to have

recycle boxes in every

classroom. The recycle

boxes were made by the

journalism students and

will be emptied by them

every Friday. Recycling

is reusing old materials

to make new ones and

has become more popu-

lar within the past few

years. Recycling is a

good way to help the en-

vironment. It reduces

pollution and also saves

money. Many different

materials can be recycled

to be used again. Stu-

dents can recycle plastic

water bottles, unused

tissues, metal, glass, pa-

per, cardboard, and mag-

azines. The most com-

mon metal to recycle is

aluminum cans. FCA has

an assigned bin specifi-

cally for the cans which

do not get mixed in with

any other recyclable

items.

One of FCA’s 6th

graders, Greggory Reid,

says “I recycle at home

and I like the idea that

we recycle here because

you don’t have to throw

away stuff that can be

reused’’.

FCA will be re-

cycling as much as pos-

sible. The main goal as a

school is to help the stu-

dents with responsibility

and to learn how to help

make the earth a better

place. These recycle

boxes will be a great as-

set and tool to help

achieve that goal.

Page 5 Issue I, Volume II

Penny Wars

By: Areli Strongheart

Penny Wars are

back! This is the second

year Faith Christian

Academy (FCA) is hold-

ing a school-wide com-

petition to determine

who can collect the most

pennies.

Middle school

students are divided by

grade, but all high

school students will be

together. All staff will

make up the fifth team.

Everyone has one week

to collect as many pen-

nies as they possibly

can. At the end of the

wars, the team that has

collected the most pen-

nies wins. The catch is

that teams may put dol-

lar bills and silver coins

into another team's jar to

sabotage that team. Eve-

ry cent from dollars and

silver coins will be

equivalent to one nega-

tive point.

The team that

wins the Penny Wars

will receive a prize. The

top votes for student

prizes are homework

passes in every class and

ice-cream, a free dress

day, or a pizza party.

Last year, the staff won

because all of the stu-

dents’ teams were fo-

cused on taking each

other down.

Penny Wars will

begin September 28th

and end October 2nd. It

has not yet been decided

what the funds will be

used for, but students

will know before the

competition starts.

Last years’ earn-

ings went to purchasing

a gaga ball pit, which

was set up on August

29th. Students that have

been able to test the ga-

ga ball pit enjoyed it

very much and those

who haven’t are very

excited to try it out.

Many have stated that

they look forward to uti-

lizing this new addition

to FCA.

Page 6

Two students at

FCA celebrated their

birthdays in August.

Both students are in the

7th grade.

The first student

is a girl named Tori

Hammond. Tori’s birth-

day was on August 8th

and she turned thirteen

years old. For her birth-

day, she went shopping

and her favorite part was

getting to buy anything

she wanted. Tori does

not feel older, but said

that the main difference

in being thirteen is that

she gets to do a lot more

stuff now. Some Tori’s

favorite things are the

color pink, brownies,

and archery.

Noah Ried also

celebrated his birthday.

He turned fourteen years

old this year. Noah’s

birthday was August

18th and he had some

friends come over and

play video games. He

also went to Peter Piper

Pizza with some friends.

He is not sure if he feels

older and he doesn’t

know what the main dif-

ference is in being four-

teen years old. Noah’s

favorite color is blue.

The best part of his

birthday was that he got

a lot of money, which he

saved up to get some

new video games.

August Babies! By: Yvonne Lara

Issue I, Volume II

Knight’s tale staff Editor – Kayla Huston Junior Editor – Bob Bobbington Field Reporters – Jeremiah Garcia, Yvonne Lara, Margarita McDonald, Bob Bobbington, Victoria Padilla, Areli Strongheart, Gabriel Timblin Photographer – Margarita McDonald