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IN THIS ISSUEJUNE 2022VOLUME XLII, ISSUE IV6488 TOWNLINE RD.P.O. BOX 40,SMITHVILLE, ONL0R 2A0PH. 905.957.3255FAX 905.957.3431smithvillechristian.caCONTACT:MARLENE BERGSMAmbergsma@smithvillechristian.caPAGE 1 OUR COMMON PURPOSEPAGE 3 GRANDPARENTS & FRIENDS DAYPAGE 4 FINDING OUR WAYPAGE 6 GIRLS OFSAA MEDALLISTSPAGE 8 GRADE 10 OTTAWA TRIPPAGE 10 GRADE 11 OTTAWA TRIPPAGE 12 QUARANTINE CUISINEPAGE 13 LET GO, LET GOD (STUDENT COUNCIL)PAGE 14 BOARD REPORTOur common purposeBY TED HARRIS, ADMINISTRATORI have the pleasure each spring of holding an admissions interview with every new family. I enjoy getting to know new families, and of course it’s good to make sure all our new families are prepared to journey with us through these high school years.Along that journey are a beautiful array of travelers. This year we have journeyed with around 170 families. They live in all parts of the Niagara region, they represent varied socioeconomic situations, they may or may not know each other, their children come from a host of different elementary learning continued on page 2 . . .
2situations, ten come from international communities, they have varying ethnic backgrounds, and they attend 49 different churches. People who might not normally have connection somehow, by God’s grace, form a community of parents who educate their children in a place that trains disciples of Jesus Christ.During these admissions interviews, I often refer to the verse that guides my leadership here: “In Him (Christ), all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). What a joy it is for me to work in a school where Christians (and some non-Christians) come together for a common purpose. It is my hope that Christians from different worship traditions can continue to come together for the education of their adolescent children.At a recent staff devotion time, one of our teachers reected on the question “What does it mean to be Christian?” Two images were presented for consideration, one of a series of compartmentalized suburban yards with tall fences, and another of a park with grass, trees, and wide-open spaces. The space with room to roam seemed to have greater appeal. Then the beatitudes from Matthew 6 were read, with notes about the poor in spirit, about those who mourn, about the meek and those who hunger after righteousness, about the pure in heart, the peace makers and the persecuted. It is clear that those who have the demeanour hinted at in Matthew 6 will be those who limit fence building, who show the love of Christ more readily to the other, and who value hospitality over hostility.It is my prayer that the Christian community which comes together here to educate teenagers toward a life of Christian discipleship will be marked with a rock-solid faith and a stalwart unity. One of the items on this year’s strategic plan is establishing best practices for maintaining unity in the face of contentious issues. One doesn’t have to look too far for a contentious issue lately. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will allow efforts and conversations to strengthen our resolve to work together as a group of people who have a keen interest in educating young people in a place where they can belong, believe, and succeed.. . . continued from page 1ECHOES JUNE 2022
3Grandparents and Friends Day 2022www.smithvillechristian.ca
4ECHOES JUNE 2022Finding our way BY MARLENE BERGSMA, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND ADVANCEMENTWhen Smithville Christian High School opened its doors in 1980, every one of the 161 students except for one had Dutch last names, and most were probably members of a local Christian Reformed Church. At the time, that level of uniformity and homogeneity may not have been surprising, given the nature of the community that established this school. Same thing the following year: 99% Dutch names. But much has changed in 42 years, and the amount of diversity in this school is a beautiful thing. Just as we serve a God whose magnicent and awe-inspiring gifts of diversity in the created world become more-and-more evident with every new scientic discovery, so we recognize that differences of belief, opinion, church membership, language of origin, favourite foods, and favourite sports team continue to add richness to our shared life together.But not always.Some of the differences we experience cause tension, suspicion, and even hostility. Then what? Our community is experiencing this now. Different views on the appropriate response to COVID-19 public health measures have frustrated and angered people. Different views on the appropriate way to express dissent with leaders of our institutions, municipalities, province, or country have caused harm and fractured relationships. Different views on how to understand and respond to differences in sexual orientation and gender identity are causing deep rifts in families, churches, and friendships.The Smithville Christian team at Wayfinder training, around the table from the left, Ted Harris, Will Lammers, Fred Breukelman, Pete Wierenga, Arielle DeBoer and Marlene Bergsma
5www.smithvillechristian.caWhat should a school do?For the past few years, our strategic plan has included a goal of “Establishing best practices for maintaining unity in the face of contentious issues,” so when Edvance, the organization which unites and serves Christian schools, invited us to attend a two-day Waynder training session, we accepted. It turns out that we are not the only Christian school struggling to navigate a path forward together that allows us to continue to work towards our core purpose of training responsible disciples of Jesus Christ. Smithville Christian High School sent a team of six people to the two-day event in April, joining over 120 other leaders from 33 Christian schools. What did we learn? Colossian Forum says Christians know that in Christ, all things hold together, so instead of seeing conict as a threat, leaders of Christian organizations can see conict as normal, as something to be expected, and as a tool for transformation. Instead of focusing on the substance of the conict, Colossian Forum invites Christian organizations to spend as much effort on the processes for handling conict as on whatever topic is the current source of the conict. See the top left of the infographic for an overview of the vision, practices, and systems for conict transformation. The Five Practices of Covenantal Communication are one of the strategies that members of Christian organizations are encouraged to use.In the 1980s, when the Christian Reformed Church, in particular, was discussing the role of women in church leadership, that denomination, and this school, were sundered in two. People are still feeling pain from those splits, even as others are of the opinion that agreeing to disagree was not a viable path. We were not able to maintain unity.Today, we continue to wonder if unity is a viable path forward, but the Waynder process offers tools by which to navigate our differences, should we choose to take advantage of them. We have the opportunity to be agents of unity, rather than agents of uniformity or division. As Jesus said, the world will know that we are his disciples if we love one another. (John 13: 34-35). The test of success of Waynder processes: Increased fruit of the spirit, decreased work of the flesh. (Galatians 5:22-23)Key take-awaysThe North Star of Waynder training: Love of God and love of neighbour. (Matthew 22: 36-40)Praying in three phasesColossian Forum, which developed and delivers the Waynder Leadership Training and Development Program, uses a guided prayer format throughout the training, based on a chosen Scripture Passage. The three phases of the prayer are Praise, Lament, and Hope.PraiseHow does this passage move you to gratitude or praise? We thank you. . . . (participants offer brief words of praise aloud).LamentHow does this passage move you to confess or lament? We lament. . . . (participants offer brief words of lament aloud).HopeHow does this passage move you to ask God to act? We ask. . . . (participants over brief words of hope aloud).
6ECHOES JUNE 2022The Storm is OFSAA medallists again! Congratulations to the Smithville Christian girls varsity soccer team on a great end to their season as OFSAA silver medalists!Here are some of the highlights of the provincial tournament, hosted in Chatham.3 days760+ km of driving85+ Single A high schools in Ontario7+ hours of soccer7 games6 wins1 loss28 goals for STORM4 goals againstUnknown quantities of • sleep • bio freeze topical ointment • ice • KT tape • sunscreen • chocolate milkRanked #2 in Ontario!Athletes, YOU rock! Thank you so much for such an exciting season, you are all very special to coach Jason Hultink and me. – Coach David Wonder
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9www.smithvillechristian.caOTTAWAGRADE 10TRIP
10ECHOES JUNE 2022OTTAWAGRADE 11 TRIP
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12ECHOES JUNE 2022Quarantine cuisine: lessons from the pandemicWhile remote learning is a something most of us are not sorry to leave behind, there was one group of Smithville Christian students whose “laboratory” work done at home bore delicious fruit. The students of the 2021 Food & Nutrition Class made a cookbook of kitchen-tested recipes, and, with the help of a published author, created a cookbook now available for sale on Amazon.Kirsten Toohey, one of the project’s editors, said because students were cooking at home and submitting photos of their results via Edsby, the editors had lots of recipes and images to work with. Parent and published author, Wanita May, “gave us insight into some of the things we needed to know about publishing,” Kirsten said. “She also connected us with a cover designer, and paid for the design, so our cookbook looks very stylish.”Among the challenges faced by the editing team was converting all the recipes to imperial measurements, formatting the pages so the layouts were pleasing and easy to read, and making sure the recipes were consistent and easy to follow. The 235-page cookbook is dedicated to the parents “who let us make a mess of their kitchens, our families and neighbours who generously shared ingredients and tools, those who lovingly shared wisdom and encouragement to try new experiments and master challenging techniques, and to all the patient taste-testers who waited for us to take photos of our creations.”COOKBOOK EDITING TEAM Kristen Toohey, Laurel Graham, Bethany De Haan, Eleanor Lee Part of the editing team at work, from left: Eleanor Lee, Gina VandenDool, Kristen Toohey, and Laurel Graham.OWN A COPY OF THE QUARANTINE CUISINE COOKBOOK!The Grade 10 Food & Nutrition students’ Quarantine Cuisine cookbook, with over 165 kitchen-tested recipes, can be purchased on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Quarantine-Cuisine-Smithville-Christian-Nutrition/dp/B09CGBNK91
www.smithvillechristian.ca13Let Go…Let God: Student Council post pandemicRebuilding school culture after a pandemic has been challenging to say the least. We began the year in cohorts, with social distancing and masking measures in place. This made school wide events hard and almost impossible to plan. As time went on, these measures grew more relaxed, opening the door for us to plan more traditional events. The challenge now is guring out what our new “normal” is. Our theme this year has been to “Let go and let God.” We have tried to live out these core principles by staying open minded and allowing God to work through us. Despite the ever changing regulations, we felt God’s hand at work guiding us through this school year. We pray that students have also been impacted to follow these words.Leading student council after a pandemic is an exciting challenge. We have had to reinvent things that many of our students and even leaders have never experienced before: from our “12 Days of Christmas Event” to an epic hockey game, it took a lot of creativity to make things work. Our current grade 12s have been the only students in the school to experience a winter dance or spring banquet. None of the current leaders were part of previous design crews. It took new planning and ideas from the Student Council to pull off our community building events this year such as our recent Spring Banquet and Country & Western Day. We thank the students and staff of Smithville Christian for their support and participation in our many events. Student Council 2021-2022, front row, from left, Alex Augustine, Grace Munnings, Owen Munnings, Colby VanderWier, Jayden VanTuyl. Back row, staff sponsor Linda Booy-Korvemaker, Gavin Damm, and Kendra Kikkert.This year’s student council is made primarily of Grade 12 students. We wonder why this is? We had a great turnout of nominees across all grades, and the rst student council elections since 2019 resulted in a great group of leaders for next year. Student voice is important to a healthy high school and we hope that everyone will benet from all the new ideas and representation.Finally, we are very thankful for the contribution from our community. This allows our school many opportunities. We want you to know that the small part of tuition that goes to Student Activities each year is carefully managed by the student council. Any surplus will go to our greenspace project which has been wrought with many roadblocks. Our most recent challenge was the need for an architect for the permit. Generous donations and connections with Jason Brouwer, Brian Rintjema and Phil Schilstra have allowed us to get back on track. We are almost at our goal.
14ECHOES JUNE 2022Board reportBY ARIELLE DEBOER, BOARD CHAIRAs I write, the nish line is in sight for the 2021-2022 school year! We are so very excited for these graduates to have a “normal” graduation after several years of limited in-person celebrations. We rejoice with parents, extended families, and friends as these young people make nal decisions about next steps of living in God’s service wherever that might be. Here’s what we have been up to as a board since January. In March, the board invited Ian Timmerman, School Liaison from Edvance, to facilitate a discussion on our mission, vision, and values. The board and leadership team ate a light and delicious dinner together (thanks Alicia!), then embarked on a lively discussion around these guiding statements. These foundational expressions of identity are helpful to wrestle with, understand and engage as we identify who we are, where we are going, and eventually, how we will get there. Early in April, school leadership and the chair and vice chair attended Waynder training, which was hosted by Edvance in Cambridge. It was both enlightening and exhausting learning about how to use conict as an opportunity for discipleship and witness. In all things, including conict, we need to focus on loving God and loving our neighbour. Easier said than done, to be sure! In this Echoes, there is another article highlighting this topic in more detail and how we will use what we learned to benet Smithville Christian High School.In May, we gathered to thank Gord Park for his devoted service as a valuable staff member for 42 years with an open house and an opportunity to reminisce together. This is also a timely opportunity to say a sincere and heartfelt thank you to all the teachers who have struggled and triumphed through this last school year. THANK YOU for your commitment to love and serve our children and to equip them to become disciples of Jesus Christ by your example.We have been proling board members in each issue of Echoes, but I’d like to recap the names of the full board who give of their time and talents for a four-year commitment. In addition to preparing for each meeting, they serve as part of the executive and also on board committees, which include Membership, Contract Partnership, Foundation, and/or Administrator led committees, such as Finance or Personnel. Our current roster includes Pete Wierenga (vice), Dwight TeBrake (treasurer), Amy Gooderham (secretary), Shelley Munnings, Kirk Weaver, Denise Glasbergen, and George Lindeboom. We appreciate our interactions with parents and supporters. Feel free to reach out to get to know us better!
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