February 20th was a special day at ECCS--especially in the grammar hall! Weeks of collecting memories and letters of thanks preceded a day of recognition and honor to ECCS's first teacher to serve in classical education for ten years. This highly esteemed honor went to Mrs. Bette Plaster.

Mrs. Plaster begin working at ECCS in 2001 as a teacher's aid. The following year she took on a first grade class and found her niche! She has been a blessing to ten years of students and parents alike as well as to all the faculty and staff of ECCS.

The grammar teachers, Mr. Plaster, and their two sons, Justin and Jonathan, joined Mrs. Plaster for a delicious luncheon, complete with her favorite dessert, chocolate cream pie from Johnny Ray's.  

Mrs. Plaster's name will be added to a perpetual plaque honoring ten year employees of the school. It will be located in the school office.

Congratulations, Mrs. Plaster! We thank you and love you!

The 4th Annual ECCS Student Walk-a-Thon was a tremendous success.  Our entire school, from Kindergarten to Seniors, participated in this annual fundraiser on March 3rd.  The students worked hard the previous four weeks sending out brochures to friends and family and gathered at Veteran's Park in Alabaster to celebrate by walking together.  So far, the students have raised over $32,000!  Congratulations, ECCS!   

Tensions ran high on Friday, January 21st as fifteen 6th, 7th, and 8th graders from area schools gathered at the Shelby County Board of Education building in Columbiana for the Shelby County Spelling Bee competition. Student representatives came from Briarwood Christian, Calera Middle, Chelsea Middle, Columbiana Middle, Cornerstone Christian, Helena Middle, Bruno Montessori Academy, Montevallo Middle, Oak Mtn. Middle, Our Lady of the Valley, Riverchase Middle Thompson Middle, Thompson Sixth, Westminster School, and Evangel Classical Christian School.

One by one, students were eliminated as the rounds of challenging words continued, but one student met the challenges with steady and consistent success. With great poise and concentration, Evangel's 8th grade Elise Helton came out on top and was named winner of the bee! Elise represented Shelby County at the Alabama State Spelling Bee on March 5, and made it all the way to the fifth round against some very tough competition.  She did a great job and made us all proud.  Congratulations, Elise! 

First runner up, Molly Brown; Winner, Elise Helton

Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing was performed by the Rhetoric School Drama Class on February 25 and 26, and the reviews have been fantastic.  Mrs. Kathy Houser, our beloved drama teacher, responded to her students' request to do Much Ado and to incorporate Swing music and dance by setting the play in American in the 1940's, with Don Pedro and his men coming back from World War II to visit Leonato in his palatial American estate.  The set, envisioned by Mrs. Houser, and executed by Mrs. Julia Hankins and Mrs. Pam Turner, was gorgeous, and the the costumes were stylized, black and red. The simple elegance of both the costuming and the set gave our young thespians to shine, and they did not disappoint. The students made Shakespeare's play come alive for young and old alike.  They not only made it understandable and accessible, but relevant and oh, so much fun.  

The L & R student body watched the dress rehearsal Friday morning and enjoyed it immensely.  All our students study Much Ado in eighth grade, so for most of them the story was familiar.  Several sixth and seventh graders were overheard "not being able to wait" until they get to the play in eighth grade!

Both evening performances were played for packed houses, and the audiences were amazed, giving the students a standing ovation both nights. Many members of the audience were guests of our families, and several had never been to an ECCS event.  Over and over, we heard from them how impressed they were with the talent of our students, the production value of our show, especially in light of our limited facility, and the warmth of our people. Thanks to Mrs. Houser and her students for working so hard for our sheer delight and for representing ECCS so well.  And thanks to you for coming out to support the students in such great numbers.  Don't miss the last two plays of our spring "season"--The Importance of Being Earnest, the Senior Play on April 14-16 and The Seusodyssey, which will be performed by our Logic School Drama Club on May 6-7.

The ECCS Beta Club, under the direction of sponsor Mrs. Martha Earwood, began a new tradition at ECCS this February--the L & R Service Day.  All one hundred and thirty-three Logic and Rhetoric School students were assigned to one of fourteen different service projects throughout the community.  Students cleaned, cleared brush, distributed food to the homeless, visited with and assisted the elderly in the community both in their homes and in nursing homes.  One group of students even painted the Evangel gym, and it has never looked better!

Students returned to school around 1:00 p.m., where the Beta Club treated them to Kona Ice treats.  Then they divided into their Houses to share with each other their different experiences and impressions of the day.  The question on the white board in each room was "What will you remember most about today?"  What a blessing it was to roam from group to group, listening to them share what they would remember most.  One group sang for the enjoyment of some nursing home residents, another group danced for them and were invited to return to teach the residents dances for their upcoming "Senior" prom. Students who sorted donated clothes and shoes spoke about their new-found gratitude for their own clothes and shoes. Students who got to hand food to the homeless and needy talked about understanding the term "community service" on a whole new level. One of the students who helped clear brush at Buck Creek Park talked about not seeing how they could get it all done at the beginning and being amazed at how much the students were able to accomplish when they all worked together. That sentiment was echoed by the students who painted the entire gym in one morning.  One of the students who helped clean at Shelby Academy said that he had learned that we all have to take better care of our public places.  "I guess I always knew that someone had to clean the bathrooms, but I never thought it would be me," he said and then expressed gratitude to the parent volunteers who have served so faithfully over the last two years to keep the Shelby Academy facility clean for us to be able to use.   

Mrs. Earwood had already made a conscious decision not to "publicize" our Service Day. At first, she said, she had thought about trying to get newspapers to cover it to get some free publicity for the school--we need all of that we can get, as our advertising budget is so limited.  But then, she was convicted that self promotion wasn't really our goal for Service Day--this was to be a day about loving and caring for others, and opening our students' eyes to the joy of service.  Therefore, we didn't contact any media about the Service Day.  Instead, they contacted us!  Mrs. Sandra Thames, a writer for the Shelby County Reporter saw some of our students cleaning the grounds of the Alabaster Library.  She talked to them and realized that there was, as she said to Mrs. Bell, "a real story here."  So the Lord blessed us with a nice article in the Shelby County Reporter, as well as an official thank you from the City of Alabaster, along with many other heart-felt thank-you letters from individuals and organizations that were blessed by our students on February 18.  What a fantastic day!  We thank the many parents who drove and chaperoned the students--we absolutely could not have done it without you!  Mrs. Earwood, thank you so much.  What a great new tradition you and the Beta Club have established for ECCS. 

The 2011 Winter Cotillion, our Third Annual, was held on Friday evening, February 11, and was attended by the entire Logic School student body.  Our young ladies and gentlemen looked spectacular in their beautiful dresses and handsome ties and jackets, and their manners were, of course, impeccable!

For four weeks of PE classes, the students were given dance lessons by professional ballroom dancer, Mr. Kurt Johnson. They learned to waltz, swing, cha-cha, and foxtrot, and had a general great time during the lessons.  The sixth graders had simple etiquette lessons, in which they learned how the table would be set, which fork to use, etc.  But more importantly, they were taught that the spirit of proper etiquette really isn't about what fork you use, but about considering those around you above yourself.  We talked about Biblical edification of each other, about kindness in speech and deed, and of course about proper manners as a show of courtesy and respect for those around you and not as just  "showing off" or being "uppity."  The students were more than ready for their special night, and they showed both on the dance floor and off that they had learned their lessons well.

It was so much fun to see the students enter the gym, which Mrs. Parks and her team of volunteers had transformed into a beautiful dining / dancing hall.  The red, black, and white color scheme was so beautiful, and the attention to detail was incredible.  Dinner began at 6:30, and after finishing their three course meal, served to them by ECCS teachers and staff, the students hit the dance floor.  Most of them did literally dance the night away, taking few or no breaks at all.  They enjoyed themselves so much that the Logic School SGA got to work the very next week trying to plan another dance before the school year is out! 

Thanks so much to the army of parent volunteers who helped in so many ways.  We say this over and over after every event, but we can never say it enough.  We have amazing, supportive, hard-working parents at ECCS, and we absolutely could not have pulled off such a magical evening for our kids if so many of you hadn't worked so hard to make it happen. 

Be sure to check out the pictures of the Cotillon on the ECCS Shutterfly site:  http://eccsphotosite.shutterfly.com/  (password:  evangel2010).

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.  Mrs. Beth Mitchell, our Advanced Rhetoric teacher, diagrammed that verse, II Corinthians 10:5, on the wall of her classroom almost four years ago, and the L & R faculty adopted it as our "motivating" verse.  We even chose that verse to be printed at the bottom of our ECCS diplomas.  That, after all, was what we were aiming for--to train our students so that they could effectively, powerfully, unceasingly defend their faith against all who would raise up arguments against it and so that they themselves would take every thought captive to obey Christ, filtering every academic discipline, every situation, every decision through the lens of Scripture. 

The Class of 2011 has studied formal Rhetoric for two years under Mrs. Kathy Houser and Mrs. Beth Mitchell.  As juniors, they chose the topics for their senior theses and worked on these extended research projects through their junior and senior years.  The students chose faculty advisors to help them work through their research and the writing of their papers, which were due near the end of the first semester this year.  They spent the months of January and February polishing their arguments, converting their papers to seven minute speeches, and practicing their presentations and defenses of their arguments.  Then on Monday night, March 7, they presented and defended their theses before an audience of their teachers, families, and schoolmates. 

We were blessed to have Dr. Jeff Lowman, Senior Pastor of Evangel Church and Dr. Sherry Ford, a professor in the University of Montevallo Department of Communications, serve as our adjudicators .  They had read the students' papers before hand, and questioned the students after their oral presentations.  Each student was allotted seven minutes for the speech and an additional eight minutes to address questions.  The seniors did a wonderful job, and it was such a blessing for the faculty and the parents who have prayed II Corinthians 10:5 over these students to see the Lord bring them farther than we even imagined in their time here at ECCS.  The students not only felt a great sense of relief, but also a great sense of accomplishment.  Several of them had expressed doubt at the outset of this project that they could actually accomplish the goal, and they far surpassed their own expectations.

The adjudicators were faced with the tough decision of choosing a student to represent ECCS in the ACCS Oratory contest.  Only accredited ACCS schools can participate, so this is our first year to be able to send in a nominee.  Based not upon the whole project, but only upon the fifteen minute presentation and defense, the adjudicators selected Mariah Lawrence as runner-up and Bethany Carter as winner of the ECCS oratory contest.  A DVD of Bethany's speech has been sent to ACCS.  If she wins or is named runner up, she will present her speech again this summer at the annual ACCS conference.  We are all praying that her work will be well received by the judges.

Special thanks to the senior moms, led by Mrs. Sandra Lanter, who provided refreshments for the intermission.  The Disputatio was long, with twelve students, and the sandwiches and fruit were nice for the students and guests.  Thanks also to those ECCS parents who came to the Disputatio, even though they don't have seniors.  We were blessed to see so many come out and were strongly encouraged by your overwhelmingly positive feedback and encouragement.  Congratulations, Seniors!

by Mrs. Beth Mitchell

"So they performed the funeral rites of Hektor, tamer of horses."  (XXIV, 960-961).  So ends one of the greatest epics of all time, Homer's Iliad. After the last line is read and the last test taken, ECCS eighth graders celebrate the completion of their study of the Iliad with a grand celebration.  This year the event took place on January 28.

Each year, eighth graders at ECCS honor Hector, the brave Trojan warrior who dies at the hands of Achilles.  In the days of the Trojan War, fallen war heroes would have been memorialized by a several-day-long funeral, in which there would have been praises / eulogies for the fallen, funeral games, and grand feasts, among other things.  On Iliad Day, students mimic antiquity by donning khitons (bedsheets) and having modified "funeral rites," during which they read eulogies, participated in "field day" type events, and have their own version of a feast.  This year, the event began with students around a fire pit, each reading a eulogy he or she composed (in the form of an epic simile) to Hector.  Then the funeral games began.  Some of the events included Tug of Patroklos, Diomedes of the Great War Cry (see photo of Mr. Caucutt and Andrew Collins), Boulder Toss, Foot Race Around Troy, Spear Throw, and Trojan Horse Construction.  After the games, students gathered in the library, where they were able to sample Greek fare, including feat cheese, olives, and baklava.  Trojans took the victory in this year's competition, adding 25 points to their team's score in the year-long competition between the Trojans and the Greeks.

Special thanks to Mrs. Perianne Roth, Mrs Lori Arvizu, and Mrs. Lori Thompson for their invaluable assistance with making the day special for the students.