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IN THIS ISSUEAPR 2023VOLUME XLIII, ISSUE III6488 TOWNLINE RD.P.O. BOX 40,SMITHVILLE, ONL0R 2A0PH. 905.957.3255FAX 905.957.3431smithvillechristian.caCONTACT:MARLENE BERGSMAmbergsma@smithvillechristian.cacontinued on page 2 . . .Students as stewards (of every square inch)BY MARLENE BERGSMA, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND ADVANCEMENTThe annual “Blue” Echoes is Smithville Christian’s opportunity to share with its community the ways in which we are stewards of the resources entrusted to us by God. But stewardship is not just something done by the school for our students. We also take very seriously the calling to invite students on the stewardship journey too – helping them understand and then put into practice that everything they have and are is a gift from God.What does that look like?PAGE 1 STUDENTS AS STEWARDSPAGE 3 STEWARDSHIP COURSEPAGE 4 IS IT TRUE TUITION IS GOING UP?PAGE 5 THE BURSARY IS A MAJOR BLESSINGPAGE 6 HOW A BURSARY APPLICATION BLESSES OUR SCHOOLPAGE 8 A STRONG CONNECTIONPAGE 9 APPRECIATED SECURITIESPAGE 9 THE FOUNDATION GROWS AGAINPAGE 10 WHAT WOULD THE NEIGHBOURS THINK?PAGE 12 SWING FOR STUDENTSPAGE 14 BOARD UPATE
2. . . continued from page 1ECHOES APRIL 2023• Six years ago, we launched an innovative required course for all Grade 11 students: the Stewardship Course. (See highlights of the Stewardship Course on page 3.)• Student Council manages a $44,400 annual budget, nancing the extracurricular program at Smithville Christian with the goals of allocating the funds equitably between athletics and activities and creating community and enjoyment of school. • Since 2008, Student Council has hosted monthly Cash-For-Change days at school, in which students and staff are invited to come to school out of uniform and pay $5 (or more), all of which is donated to a charity designated by the student leaders. The typical Cash-For-Change day results in a $600-$800 donation, with the goal of blessing others outside our school and being a reection of Christ in our community.• Many of the volunteer opportunities offered to students from the Student Services department as ways to meet the 40-hour graduation requirement are from community organizations that bless our neighbours.• Spiritual Life Director Stu Bender organizes regular chapels with the theme “Everything is Worship,” helping us understand that our work, play, screen time, and chat, are all done in order to glorify God.• Science teacher Scott Antonides makes caring for creation – and doing something about it – a regular part of his curriculum.• Food & Nutrition teacher Gina VandenDool emphasizes that what we eat and drink is done to glorify God.Even our guest chapel speakers get with the program.In February, Youth Pastor David Scholman (Class of 2012) was the guest speaker at chapel, and his talk emphasized God’s claim on every square inch of our lives. This page, from top: Sun Life Financial Advisor, Matt Dam (Class of 2002) speaks to students in the Stewardship Course about investments and savings; a Stewardship student works on an accounting exercise; Tony Kamphuis (Class of 1985), President and CEO of the Christian School Foundation, speaks to Stewardship students about Christian philanthropy. Right, youth pastor and Redeemer hockey coach David Scholman (Class of 2012) speaks at a recent chapel.
www.smithvillechristian.ca3What are you going to do after high school?No answer? No problem.“Any of my teachers who are still here would be able to tell you that I was the kind of student who could not tell you what I wanted to do after graduation,” guest chapel speaker David Scholman told students at a recent Wednesday morning chapel. Now working as the head ice hockey coach at Redeemer University in Hamilton, as the Athletics Cooordinator at Redeemer, and as the youth pastor at Covenant Christian Reformed Church in St. Catharines, Scholman told students there is “no wrong answer” to the question.That’s because WHY you do something is more important than WHAT you do, Scholman said. If what you do is done “as if working for the Lord,” then it is the right thing. “I guarantee that the plans you have today will not make you ultimately happy,” Scholman said, citing the example of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, whose signicant wealth and success did not stop him from wanting more. Plus, you will probably change your mind along the way, and that’s ne too. “Whatever we do, we can do it to glorify God,” Scholman said, quoting Abraham Kuyper. “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’ “* For students at Smithville Christian, the message is clear, stewardship is more than money. Whether they are in class, in chapel, or chatting with their friends, their lives belong to God. Stewardship CourseDeveloped in 2017 as a response to a strategic planning goal, the Smithville Christian “Explorations in Stewardship” course is a requirement for all Grade 11 students. It is team-taught by three teachers and has three units: Financial Stewardship, Accounting, and Small Business and Entrepreneurship. It includes a speaker series, which, over the years, has featured a variety of expert guests. Topics include:• Life’s biggest purchases with a realtor and also a representative from an automobile dealership• Financial legacies with Christian Stewardship Services• Debt with a debt management consultant• Starting a small business from scratch• Building equity by being creative• Marketing ourselves and stewarding our gifts• The impact of giving Biblically with representatives of the Christian School Foundation• The benets of nancial planningThe course also includes a small business project, and a nal project which involves an extension of the main themes of the course.
4ECHOES APRIL 2023Is it true that tuition is going up?BY TED HARRIS, ADMINISTRATORThe nance committee and I made a conscious decision last summer that we would make it plain over a series of communications with our families and constituents that tuition would be rising dramatically for the 2023-2024 school year. This is another in that series of communications, with a few more specics than the previous ones.Let’s start with the background to this talk of a tuition increase.For more than a decade, we had budgets that not only balanced but, in the end, yielded surpluses. That trend started to turn about three years ago. Though early on in that period there were years when there was no tuition increase, most years the nance committee devised plans for a 1.2-2.2% increase. Now we have faced budget challenges over the last three years. Here are some of the causes for these challenges:• Ination: Though ination has not reared its head most years as it is currently, it is a very real concern across many areas of budgeting. Every year, we track our tuition adjustments in comparison to Canadian and regional median household incomes. This year will bring blips in that line. Households are certainly earning more on average, but they also face a steeper cost of living.• The high student numbers in our local Christian schools are from Grade 7 down. Though these numbers will come our way, we have been through a few relatively lean years at the high school level. This is consistent with population trends across North America. Though there is more to budgeting than student numbers, higher numbers certainly do help. • We have, for years, had a higher number of international students than we currently have – a decline brought about by the pandemic. We are working hard at improving this situation, since we see benets for all in having international students in our midst, and this goes beyond economic benets.• We have also had a run of classes that come in at numbers which push us only slightly over the threshold of the number of sections we will offer in light of our class size guidelines. We have stopped short of having waiting lists when we get more students than we plan for as February moves to June each year.
The bursary is a major blessingSo what’s the news on the bursary front? It’s good news; we already have more funds than will be needed for the anticipated allocation for 2023-2024. In fact, there is enough in our fund to institute what we are calling a step-down bursary, which will give families an option to request a reduced tuition increase and be covered in that choice by our bursary fund. It’s the same strategy we used about 15 years ago when tuition increased 16% in one year.Where is the hope in this story?First, the bulge of students is coming our way. Our elementary partners are struggling to t all their students, and our intake percentages have been strong from year to year.Second, the percentage of students in Ontario whose parents are choosing independent school has been steadily rising for years. It is now well over 7%. This trend is reected in the increased interest from families whose children are in publicly funded high schools or who come from publicly funded elementary schools.Third, giving to our bursary fund has tracked upward. We are richly blessed by people who attach great importance to working as a community to support the schooling choice of families who desire Christian high school education.How does this affect you?1) If you are tuition payers concerned about tuition next year, take heart: we will govern nances in the most stewardly way possible, and we will continue to make bursary support available to any family that wants what we offer and is hard pressed to make it happen nancially, including a special step-down bursary for a year like this coming one with a signicant tuition jump.2) If you are a supporter of our school, continue or prayerfully increase your support for the bursary program. You can respond when our campaigns hit your in-boxes, or you can call us (or our Foundation) to discuss how to structure other kinds of giving.5www.smithvillechristian.caBudgets are tight but they are not putting us in debtOne particular blessing to note here is that we have been able to work through these years without actually accruing debt. On paper, there have been shortfalls, but at scal year-end we have been able to take steps to work things out. Here’s how:• We have used surplus funds from prior years to help balance new scal years. We have a policy that gives steps and directives for use of surplus funds. While our use of these funds has been consistent with this policy, we do not prefer to use surplus funds in this way from year to year.• We have used our bursary program to fund educational assistance needs at a time when these needs have been signicantly higher than normal. Though we have never to this point used bursary funds for our operating budget, it could be argued that this is what we did last year. We supported this decision by adding a special “Belonging” bursary to support the needs of targeted (according to learning needs) students and families.• In addition, we have, of course, added austerity in our spending, both as we chart a course for a budget year and as we move through it.When we stack all this together, it is clear to us that tuition must go up. In doing so, we have to revisit (as we do every year) our guiding statement for how we approach tuition: We set tuition based on the real costs to deliver excellence in a stewardly way, and our community rallies to form a bursary fund to make sure we are accessible to those who want what we offer.So tuition will go up, and it will be more than a few percent. Specics will come soon. And we will keep building and using our bursary fund to be a place for all families that want to be a part.
6ECHOES APRIL 2023How a bursary application blesses our schoolBY TED HARRIS, ADMINISTRATORWe have frequent conversations with prospective families who are deeply concerned about the cost of tuition and the possible nancial strain that sending their children to our school will bring on their families. Of course, we encourage them to apply for bursary support. When we do this, we often tell these families that they are actually doing the school a favour. Here’s why.First, it helps our bottom line. Our bursary fund consists of donations from supporters who have designated where these donations go, plus gifts we receive that are undesignated. To maintain integrity with our supporters, we do not use bursary funds until they are allocated for the purpose of helping an eligible family with support for tuition payments. Thus, when a family is awarded bursary support, we have the opportunity to move funds from our bursary fund into the tuition income line in our operating budget. This helps the school with the necessary income to balance a budget; and, as noted elsewhere in this Echoes, that has been challenging. Without a family’s request, the bursary gifts cannot bless our school.Second, when 30-40% of our families apply for and receive bursary support, the result is that our school community is much bigger and better than it would be if our school consisted only of families who pay full tuition. To be sure, it is great when families are able to pay full tuition. But we do not want to be a school that is only for the wealthy, and
7www.smithvillechristian.cawe are tremendously blessed to be part of a community that wants to make sure this is not the case. Our bursary spreadsheet for this year consists of at least half a dozen families with household incomes below $50,000. There is no class, club, or team that is not made richer by the presence of bursary students. We would not be Smithville Christian without them.Third, receiving a bursary is not accepting charity or asking for a hand-out. Rather, it is an investment in growing the reign of God. Research shows that graduates of Christian schools are more generous in sharing their time and treasure with their churches and communities, so we fully expect that someday bursary recipients will have an opportunity to pay it forward. This is what being a Christian community is all about. Many of the bursary funds we have today are from people who were blessed in the past. What a joy to see people paying it forward. We are a better school because of our bursary program. If you are a donor, please accept our profound gratitude for allowing us to be a place that welcomes everyone who desires the blessing of a Christian education. If you are not a donor – yet – please consider whether you might be. Every contribution, no matter the size, becomes part of the blessing. Please also consider a planned gift. You might not be able to bless us today, but consider working with Christian Stewardship Services and the Christian School Foundation (see pages 8 and 9) to plan to bless teenagers in the future. If you or someone you know is wondering if a Christian high school education could be possible for a teenager you love, I hope you catch our commitment to make it work. Our goal is that no family would ever be turned away because of the cost. Thanks to our supporters, this isn’t a situation we often face. So go ahead, ll out a bursary application; you’re doing us a favour.
8ECHOES APRIL 2023A strong Smithville Christian – Christian School Foundation connectionMany of you recall the days in the 1990s when Henry Koornneef built up the Foundation for Niagara Christian Schools (and later the Foundation for Hamilton and Niagara Christian Schools) out of an ofce near the main entrance at Smithville Christian High School. And many are aware that our school’s connection was strengthened when one of our alumni students and former Smithville Christian staff member Tony Kamphuis moved into leadership at the foundation.Well, it has happened again!With Henry Koornneef’s retirement in August 2022, our school’s connection was strengthened again in July 2022 with the Foundation’s appointment of Kevin teBrake, Smithville Christian Class of 1986, as its new Director of Planned Gifts and Investments. Kevin’s passion for Christian education and stewardship, and his background as a professional accountant as well as a lead pastor in the Christian Reformed Church, has uniquely prepared him to serve with great effectiveness in this role.Welcome to the Foundation, Kevin! God bless you as you strengthen Christian schools even as you keep the Smithville connection strong!Kevin teBrake, Christian School Foundation Director of Planned Gifts and Investments
www.smithvillechristian.ca9APPRECIATED SECURITIESWe often hear the Foundation encourage those with non-registered securities to consider using these when they wish to donate to our school. Why? The table below shows why this kind of gift can increase the impact you are making, at no additional cost to you! In fact, there are signicant tax savings. MORE RESOURCES AND TOOLSContact the Foundation to assist you with your securities or other tools to help you effectively and stewardly give today. Or maybe you want to add a legacy for Christian education to your will. The Foundation can help make this kind of giving easy, so that you can be assured you are making the impact you want to make – without navigating a complicated process on your own. The Christian School Foundation partners with Christian Stewardship Services to offer expert advice on estate planning. If you need to prepare a will or update your will, please contact your area CSS representative, Marinus Koole, at marinusk@cssservices.ca More resources and tools are available for you on the Christian School Foundation’s website. Visit www.christianschoolfoundation.ca for encouragement and inspiration.The Foundation Is poised to grow againThe distraction of a global pandemic meant that the Foundation grew, but only slowly, over the past two years. Now there is increased interest across the country as Christian schools start to see how this cooperative partnership can be a real blessing for the schools AND for their supporters.Christian education is growing right across the country, as new schools are established, and as existing schools grow in size. It turns out that COVID-19 had some positive impacts that we could not have anticipated!All of us benet as the Foundation grows because it gives us more opportunities to see our collective long-term gifts nd more options for investment and growth, at reduced fees.God is good! We see evidence of this even when we least expect it. To Him be the glory!DONATING USING APPRECIATED SECURITIESSell securities for cash.Donate after tax proceeds.Original Cost of Securities $2,000 $2,000Current Market Value $10,000 $10,000Capital Gains $8,000 $8,000Tax on Capital Gains $1,8401 $0Your Charitable Tax Credit $3,7521 $4,6001Donate securities as a gift-in-kind through the Foundation1. This assumes a 46% marginal tax rate. For calculating capital gains tax, this rate is applied to 50% of the capital gain.Marinus Koole, Christian Stewardship Services
10ECHOES APRIL 2023What would the neighbours think?BY MARLENE BERGSMA DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND ADVANCEMENTStudents, parents, and alumni regularly let us know how grateful they are for Smithville Christian High School. We are always glad to hear about the blessing we are able to be in peoples’ lives – it means we are meeting our core purpose to train students to live as responsible disciples of Jesus Christ. But in promotion and advancement circles, people who serve Christian schools in a similar capacity are encouraged to consider our kingdom impact in other ways. We are reminded to ask ourselves: “If your school closed tomorrow, would your community notice or care?” Or, in other words, what do the neighbours think? Would our neighbours miss us if we were gone? We think, the answer is “YES!” From the geography students who did primary research and provided The Township of West Lincoln with valuable data for the Township’s Trails and Corridors Master Plan, to the science students who planted trees in an ambitious reforestation project, and the choir that sings at community Christmas events, there are many ways in which our school is able to make meaningful contributions to the ourishing of our community. And those contributions are being recognized. In November, Smithville Christian High School was named the winner of the West Lincoln Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award, in the large business category. The award was presented at an event at the school. In presenting the award, Smithville Christian was also recognized for student fundraising contributions to community causes, Earth Day litter clean-ups, membership in and support of the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce, hosting all-candidates’ meetings during
11www.smithvillechristian.caelections, and the ways in which the students and their teachers contribute to a livable and walkable community. Sylvana Oliver, a member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, said she nominated Smithville Christian because she wanted to recognize a business “that makes a difference in this community.“I believe empowering our young adults with the skills they need to make this world a better place is our duty as a society,” said Oliver, “and your staff endeavour to do that on a daily basis. Anytime I enter your school not only are the staff so helpful, you can see the true willingness of students to help and do their best.”Smithville Christian High School was also the sponsor of the award in the Small Business category, which was won by Smithville Dance Academy. Our participation in the awards program, and our membership in and support of the Chamber of Commerce, is our support of the ourishing of our community. The ourishing that we seek for the students, staff, and families who are part of our learning community does not stop at the door. We take seriously God’s instruction to “work for the peace and prosperity of the city” (Jeremiah 29:7). It’s nice that our neighbours notice.Opposite page: Award winners and sponsors at the West Lincoln Chamber of Commerce annual Business of the Year awards event, held at Smithville Christian High School. This page, clockwise from top: Newspaper coverage celebrating Smithville Christian High School and other business award winners, Marlene Bergsma presenting the small business award to Samantha Burgoyne-Watson of Smithville Dance Academy, Marlene Bergsma and Scott Antonides of Smithville Christian High School accepting the large business award from sponsor Kristine Zwaagstra, guests mingling at the event, a painting by Grade 12 art student Natasha Dam which was part of an art gallery display at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s Holiday Trail at Ball’s Falls.
12ECHOES APRIL 2023Every year for more than two decades, Smithville Christian High School and Cairn Christian School have worked together to organize an annual fundraising golf tournament. The format, the name, the location, and even the names of the schools have changed over the years, but one thing has remained the same: inviting people to enjoy fun, fellowship, and good food with the goal of supporting Christian education.Here are some of the things that continue to make the annual golf tournament a success.A FUN NEW NAME: Swing for StudentsWhat we’re thankful for: good neighbours and good friends
www.smithvillechristian.ca13Golfer RegistrationA FUN NEW NAME: Swing for StudentsA NEW LOCATION: Whisky Run Golf Course in Port ColborneLOYAL SPONSORS: 39 in 2022LOYAL GOLFERS: 102 in 2022GENEROUS SPONSORS: Lunch, Dinner, Carts, Snacks and Tournament Swag, and a healthy presentation of prizes!Proceeds to support Christian education:$37,000 in 2022!!!Save the Date!The 2023 edition of Swing for Students will be Saturday, September 16, 2023 at Whisky Run Golf Course. Register as a golfer now and guarantee your spot.Renew your sponsorship or join our amazing group of sponsors.See last year’s sponsors at bit.ly/2022SwingForStudentsSponsorsDo you want to be part of the team that organizes all the fun? Email Kevin Huinink at khuinink@cairnchristianschool.ca Renew or register to be a sponsor bit.ly/2023SwingForStudentsSponsorRegistrationSave your spot golfer registration bit.ly/2023SwingForStudentsGolferRegistrationWhat we’re thankful for: good neighbours and good friendsSponsorRegistration
14ECHOES APRIL 2023As I write these remarks, Easter is just two weeks away - the highlight of the Christian calendar! Sharing the message of the cross with students is forefront for all of us at Smithville Christian High School. Truly, this is the purpose of Christian education – to direct and guide young hearts and minds to commit their hearts to Christ.Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:8-11Please join with the board in praying for these young people as our staff work to disciple them.You might have seen in the last edition of the Echoes the most recent update of the core values of Smithville Christian High School – Belong, Believe, Succeed. This effort was the culmination of time spent with Smithville Christian leadership and the board last spring to focus on who we are and eventually, where we are going. We intend to move toward embarking on a strategic planning process as we start the 2023-24 school year. This process would be broader than our more recent editions as we are nally moving out of the covid era and like many organizations, are ready to vision for the future. To champion the way, we welcome Kirsten Richardson as our new Strategic Planning Coordinator. And while we publicly thanked Lorie Toohey at the December Annual General Meeting, I’m happy to do it again here, as she served faithfully and diligently in the role.As a board, we have been busy working on bylaw updates as required by the Ontario not for Prot Corporations Act, passed October 2021. Organizations have three years to come into compliance with the act, and we hope to present our updates to the membership this spring.We also shared the recent news of Ted Harris’ departure at the end of this school season. As a community, we will celebrate his achievements and career before he leaves. Please watch your inbox for details. We will also be saying goodbye to several staff members, all of whom will be honoured later this year. Recently, the board has committed to being more consistent with updates to the membership and Smithville Christian supporters in an effort toward greater understanding and relationship. We hope that these updates are a step in that direction. Once again, we thank you for your prayers and support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to any one of us to hear more about what we are doing. Current members are: Darrell Buys, Arielle DeBoer, Denise Glasbergen, Amy Gooderham, Darryl Haanstra, George Lindeboom, Dwight TeBrake, Kirk Weaver, Pete Wierenga. We are happy to serve the school community as part of God’s Kingdom.Board updateBY ARIELLE DEBOER, BOARD CHAIR
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We draw Christian schools and donors together toexpand the influence of Christ in our culture.www.christianschoolfoundation.caThe Echoes is a periodical published ve times a year by Smithville Christian High School. Editor: M. BergsmaHead Office36 Killaloe CrescentGeorgetown, ONL7G 5N2TICO #500195091051 Broad St. E., Dunnville, ON905-774-61152400 Highway 56, Binbrook, ON905-692-44151380 Fourth Ave., St. Catharines, ON905-688-552030%is printed on 30%post-consumer recycled paper.30%Claudia AlvesMarketing ManagerHorticultural | Agricultural | Residential | Industrial | CommercialSamuel Dekker Master Electricianfeederelectricinc@gmail.com1-905-932-6975Wainfleet, OntECRA/ESA Licence #701591Home Design