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Ninety-seven percent of graduating seniors from last year’s class were accepted by a four-year college, such as Texas Tech, UC San Diego and UCLA.

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Eagle Awards of Excellence were presented May 19 for the 2007-08 school year.

Nearly a quarter of the students from the graduating class of 2008 were named Eagle Scholars, which means they maintained a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher all four years.

National Honor Society Scholar-ship Nominees for 2007-08 were Jennifer Dell’Acqua and Nicole Nelsen.

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Semifinalists named at the end of last school year for the National Merit Scholarship Program included Emily Dawson, Justin Kendrick, Micah Nacita and Christopher Underhill. Underhill has advanced into the finalist round this year for the National Merit Scholarship Program. Separately, Underhill has achieved a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Bakersfield Christian High School12775 Stockdale HighwayBakersfield, CA 93314

It is the mission of Bakersfield Christian High School to prepare students for excellence in mind, body and spirit. In a variety of ways, BCHS students continue to demonstrate the achievement of that mission. The list below is a sample of the many successes our students have realized in the past semester. As you read through this impressive list, you come to understand that BCHS students hold their own amid larger local schools and against formidable opponents in many areas.

n Applause n

TODAYVolume 3 • Fall/Winter 2008

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BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

A Bakersfield Christian High School Community Publication

Flaming jazz and sizzling steaks on the barbeque made a fantastic Saturday

evening, October 18 at BCHS’s second annual Big Nite O’ Jazz.

Hume Lake retreat sets foundation for year

Laying the bedrock for BCHS’s 2008-09 academic year didn’t involve classrooms or textbooks.

The foundation was set 150 miles northeast of the school’s campus during its fifth annual fall retreat to Hume Lake Christian Camps. The retreat included recreational activities, such as paintball, kayaking and a talent show, but its central mission was to establish a spiritual theme for the year with chapel services led by guest pastor Shawn McBride.

“It sets the tone spiritually and intellectually,” Principal Greg Root said.

About 520 students and 70 faculty and staff members loaded into 13 busses Sept. 9 for the three-day retreat, which introduced “Identity” as this year’s spiritual theme.

The Identity theme is the second installment in a four-year acronym based on the word RIPE, which stands for Reality, Identity, Purpose and Ethics. Weekly chapel services throughout the year on campus will “springboard” off what was established at Hume Lake and feed the school’s goal of Biblically-based education, Root said.

In the case of the RIPE acronym, created by the BCHS Bible Department, students are taught this year what it means to be Christians in order to prepare them for next year’s lessons on Purpose, which will delve into what they are to do as Christians.

“It’s a concerted effort on all parties to make sure we drive the nail of Identity

home and maybe bend it over in the minds of kids so they know who they are in Christ,” said Root about this year’s theme.

Leaving campus and going to Hume Lake for the retreats is important, according to student Vinny Oddo. The lessons seem to sink in a little deeper while camped in the wilderness at 5,240 feet above sea level, he said.

“At Hume Lake, we were just away from any outside influences, and we were just together,” said Oddo, a senior and Associated Student Body president. “It’s a really special time for me.”

In addition to priming spirits, the trip is designed to build esprit de corps.

“We see this real value in building relationships, and there’s real value in getting to know somebody in a different environment,” Root said. “God works in our lives through a relationship that we have with Him.”

Going to Hume Lake opens the lines of communication between teachers and students in a way that wouldn’t happen in a regular classroom setting, according to girls’ dean and teacher Amy Pitcher.

Senior Elyssa Sullivan says she can attest to how the retreat helps bolster communication and camaraderie at BCHS.

“I know a lot of students connect with teachers on a more personal level while we’re up there,” Sullivan said. “I don’t think we would have the same unity on campus if we didn’t have the trip to Hume Lake.”

BCHS has five Eagle Scouts on campus this year. Brice Ezell, Dylan Reddin, Clay Camp, Chris Underhill and Matt White have all fulfilled the requirements for Boy Scouts of America’s highest rank. Only about 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

See Applause on page 3

2 • FALL/WINTER 2008 BCHS Today

The money was right there on the ground. They didn’t know whose it was, but they knew it wasn’t theirs.

Since the beginning of the school year I’ve had four young people bring $20 bills and a wallet to me that they had found.

But there’s more. During the recent golf tournament I had two young

people come up to me and give me their tip money, asking that it be added to the money that was being raised for financial aid.

BCHS is blessed with wonderful students.Toward the end of last year we asked students to

share how they felt about their parents and here’s what they had to say:

• “MostofallDad,Ithankyouforshowingmewhattrueloveis.YouloveMomandthenallofussomuch.Younotonlyloveuswithallofyourheart,butyouloveGodwithallofyourheart.Evenwhentherehavebeendisappointmentsinlife,youtrustGodhasaplanforyou,andyouwillnotgiveuptrustinghim.”

• “Mom,youaremyrolemodel.Iwanttobelikeyou.EveryoneIknowwhohasmetyou,lovesyou.WhenI

Investments reap rewards of blessings and characterBy Daniel H. Cole, BCHS President/Chief Administrator

cryorwhensomeonehurtsmeyouaretheretomakeitbetter.Youaremylightwhenit’sdark,andyouaremypeanutsandcaramelinaSnickers.Youarewhatmakesmewhole,andIloveyousomuch.”

• “IknowsometimesIdon’tseemappreciativetowardyourassistancewhenyourhelpingmewithstuffMom,butIdoappreciateitalot.I’msorryaboutthewayIacttowardyou.Thethingsyoudoforme,noteven10momscando.Youaresuper-momtome.”

• “IcherisheverysecondIhavewithyouDad.Ilovewhenwefish,goshootingorevenjustmakeatriptothestore.AndI’mgratefulfortheinterestyoutakeinmylife.”

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it is easy to be reminded again of just how thankful we really ought to be.

I’m thankful for young people who have the character that we’ve just portrayed. I’m thankful that we believe our students should be young people that value highly the traits of integrity, commitment, self-discipline, diligence, hard work and accountability. I also trust our students are learning to measure their success not by how much they know, earn and acquire but by who and how they serve.

I am thankful for parents who are not only deeply

The BCHS football team jumped right into the deep end this sea-son and didn’t rest on its laurels

from winning a championship during its breakthrough 2007 season.

Last year the Eagles took home their first California Interscholastic Federation Div. V Championship after a hard-fought battle against Fowler, completing the season with a 10-2 record.

“These are once in a lifetime experi-ences, and the fact that we had to come from a 28-point deficit made it that much sweeter,” coach Doug Barnett said about last year’s championship game.

Picking up where they left off, the Eagles won six of their first seven games this year by an average of 30 points. The only loss was the season opener against 2006-07 Div. III state champions Oaks Christian, who were undefeated through their first seven games of the season.

The early season success for the Ea-gles included a homecoming game win, during which they scored on their first five offensive drives en route to defeating Coast Union 48-7.

“Our main goal against Coast Union was to come out fast,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “Coast Union was definitely a game where everyone built their confi-dence up.”

committed to nurturing their own children but also helping to meet the needs of other BCHS students.

Words cannot express how thankful I am for parents and other friends of the school who have given time-and-again, sacrificially to build the library and most recently the new bleachers.

BCHS has been richly blessed, and I am thankful. Our school is richly blessed by teachers that help each BCHS student as they face real-life issues, perceptions and misperceptions, and trends in our culture that are attractive, but ultimately disastrous.

Desiderius Erasmus, 400 years ago, wrote, “All studies are followed for this one object, that we may know Christ and honor Him.”

A school is Christian more than in its name when a governing board, the administration, faculty, parents and students are committed to acting out Erasmus’ high purpose.

I want you to know how thankful I am for all your support and encouragement as we strive for excellence. During recent weeks I’ve been reminded again how blessed and thankful I am that we’re becoming a community of people who lovingly care for each other especially during our most difficult times.

Carr, who transferred from Houston, Texas, is a new addition to the team this year. He said he enjoys playing for BCHS and can see how the team’s offense will help him when he heads to college next year. Carr has verbally committed to play at Fresno State University.

“If we throw the ball 40 times, that’s 40 different reads I have to make just in one game, and that helps out a lot,” Carr said.

Along with the addition of Carr, the Eagles returned 16 starters from last year’s team.

“Last year’s team had a bunch of juniors on it, so the improvement comes in the fact that they are older and they understand the system that much better,” Barnett said.

Aside from hours of practice, the team also grew tighter through a weekend retreat in June to Hume Lake. Although they practiced and scrimmaged against other teams, the main focus of the week-end was to develop unity.

“I enjoy being a part of the BCHS football team very much, because of the chemistry we all have,” senior defensive back Trevor Slegers said.

“We’re like a family, all brothers. The coaches are really good too, they’re al-ways positive, and they’re helping us not

only through football but also through life.”

Through the unexpected loss of team-mate Patrick Allen in August, the football team, as well as the entire BCHS fam-ily, experienced unity in a deeper way, coming together to love and support one another in the midst of tragedy.

Beyond football, Barnett teaches his players to model Christ and develop char-acter. The team uses the CHRIST acro-nym - which stands for Christ, Heart, Re-spect, Integrity, Sacrifice and Team – to keep them faithful in the little things.

“Especially when you know your wearing that CHRIST shirt under your pads, you know every play you have to give it your all, because God wants us to go out there and give it our all every play,” Carr said.

The remaining games before the CIF playoffs that begin Nov. 21 are all league games.

“All games are key and tough at this point,” Barnett said.

With each game the Eagles move closer to reaching their full potential as a team, according to Slegers.

“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Slegers said. “But our main goals are league, valley and then, hopefully, state championships.”

Gridiron Eagles start season strong

BCHS was named the Califor-nia Interscholastic Federation Div.V School of the Year for 2007-08 by CalHi Sports and the ESPN High School Network. The combination of three Central Section titles and the overall success in multiple sports for the season earned BCHS the No. 1 position in the state for all-sports combined in Div. V.

Each team contributed to the title through the following accomplishments:

★ Volleyball, Div. V state semifinalists and the Central Section Div. V runner-up

★ Boys Basketball, advancement to the state playoffs and Central Section Div. V runner-up

★ Girls Basketball, Div. V semifinalists

★ Football, Div. V championship

★ Girls Soccer, Div. V semifinalists

★ Golf, Div. II runner-up

★ Boys Tennis, Div. V champions

★ Girls Tennis, Div. V champions

ESPNDivision VSchool ofthe Year

Also recognized were the 25 students who met the criteria of high SAT and American College Test scores, which are at a minimum 1600 and 24, respectively.

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In 2007-08, 151 BCHS students took Ad-vanced Placement exams. Six students were awarded AP Scholar and one received AP Scholar with Distinction. There are approxi-mately 150 students in the Scholars Program.

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2008 alumna, Katharine Acosta, who de-signed the set for last year’s production of “Mu-sic Man”, is now studying set design at college.

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Art students designed publicity posters for upcoming BCHS events: Joseph Stearns and Justine Schoneveld for Big Nite O’ Jazz, and Stephanie Ogden and Shelby Pulido for “Little Women”. Jeffrey Wedel is working on the artwork for the Christmas Fine Arts Festival.

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The Girls Tennis team of Lyndsay Cooke, Chelby Cooke, Lily Schuler, Carolyn Stevens, Janelle Fivecoat, Angela Littlefield, Melissa Merrill, Jimmi Futrell, Kim Butler and Abby Porter won the Lewis Cup Championship, marking the first time a non-Div. I team has won the tournament. This achievement put BCHS No. 1 in the Central Valley, including all divisions.

Applause, from page 1

BCHS Today FALL/WINTER 2008 • 3

There is something comforting in knowing you are part of a team. Some-how obstacles are not as intimidating when you know you have help over-coming them. The victories are sweeter because you celebrate partnership.

Every year our school strives to creatively meet the annual operating expenses not covered by tuition. The great opportunities we are able to offer our students are a collaborative effort. The Annual Eagle Golf Classic is one ex-ample of a great way we are able to raise significant support for financial aid and have fun in the process. We were able to knock $56,000 off the balance needed to cover this year’s Eagle Excellence An-nual Fund.

In the 2008-09 school year we were faced with a challenge a bit daunting in comparison to previous years. The community is very interested in our

Eagles fly abroad for summer missions work

Some Bakersfield Christian High School students and staff spent the summer adding

stamps to their passports while doing God’s work.

Every BCHS student is required to complete 40 hours of community service during high school. Several chose to do so by participating in overseas mission trips.

Their destinations varied just as much as the work they did, but they all went for the same reason — to partner in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus commands in Matthew 28:19.

Peru, South America

Angela Littlefield decided to go to Peru to participate in a mission trip without knowing any of the other 600 believers gathered to go from the United States and Canada.

Events, teamwork fund school’s operationBy Karen Dierks, BCHS Director of Advancement

championship football team, and so our stadium needed to grow quickly. A board policy requires each project to be fully funded before starting a new proj-ect. With the understanding that there is still a debt from the construction of the Media Library Center, the only way to increase the stadium seating was to raise the money without incurring new debt. Within days, a group of parents banded together to make this happen.

There is no shortage of good hearted, generous people on our team. One of the greatest rewards we receive is watch-ing God fulfill our needs through each other. Our desire is to offer everyone a chance to participate in the growth of our school through events that require teamwork and result in a sense of com-munity.

We are well on our way to reaching our goal for this year’s annual fund.

The BCHS senior and her team performed the drama “The Toymaker and His Son” that paralleled Bible stories such as creation, the fall of man and the Gospel at various sites surrounding Lima, Peru’s capital city.

After each performance a member of the team explained the drama while another team member would share their testimony and provide an invitation for salvation and pray with the people who wanted to come to Christ.

One night Littlefield recalls praying, “God, I want you to use me, I’m all the way in Peru, just use me however You want to.”

The next day Littlefield says she was given the opportunity to go up to people with an interpreter and pray for them and led some of them to Christ.

“It was awesome,” Littlefield exclaimed, “it was the first time I’d ever done that and it was phenomenal.”

Cameroon, Africa

Senior Taylor Roche spent two weeks of his summer in the northern Cameroon town of Maroua. Roche and the 16 people on the Campus Crusade missions team made their home in a Catholic Guest House while traveling about two hours each night to various villages to show “The JESUS Film.”

Bringing the technology of a screen and projector along with them, Roche and his teammates, which included his father Vince, sister and fellow BCHS student Bretly, and younger brother Sullivan, drew crowds by the thousands who would come to stand and watch the three-hour cinematic depiction of the gospel of Luke.

The film was translated into various Cameroonian native tongues. It was shown to about 17,000 people, and 4,260 people received Christ.

To see the crowds of people gathered together watching this life changing message “is an experience you cannot describe unless you do it,” Taylor Roche says.

Despite the physical hardships of a third world country Roche says he would go back.

“If one person comes to Jesus it’s worth it, so you can never justify saying ‘I will not go back because it was too miserable,” Roche says. “All we have to do is go, and God will take care of the rest.”

Trinidad, Caribbean

Using the musical gift God gave her, junior Cici Pandol teamed with nine other musicians through Carpenter’s Tools International Music Ministries using fun, upbeat music to gather crowds together so the gospel could be shared throughout the island nation of Trinidad.

Pandol first heard of CTI after they visited BCHS last year and was excited to be a part of a mission trip for musicians, knowing she would learn about performing as well as ministering to people through music.

The six-week trip began with two weeks of training in Willmar, Minn., where Pandol met and played with her band. Through the audition process CTI placed Pandol on the team going to Trinidad where she played both acoustic and electric guitar.

See Missions on page 4

Above Top: Eagle fans enjoy the new stadium bleachers for the first time during the homecoming game on Oct. 3.

Above: Golfers practice their drives Sept. 22 before the 5th Annual Eagle Golf Classic.

Through the Eagle Golf Classic, the Phone-A-Thon and the newest annual addition, The Key Event, we will see many students have access to excellence in Christian education.

Saying “thank you” is a small way to express a big thing. What you do for these students will impact lives in ways we can never measure.

Far Left: Kayla Yarian shares Christ’s love with orphaned and sick babies at a baby hospital in Minish, Romania.

Left: Learning some new moves from his African friends, Taylor Roche joins in a celebration dance before a showing of “The JESuS Film” in a Cameroon village.

Dinner, silent and live auctions… more details to come.

Please plan to join us Saturday evening, May 2

at Stockdale Country Club for The Key Event

and my head matched up, that’s when I decided (to accept Christ).”

Moreland began another important relationship in high school. That’s when she met her future husband, David Moreland, who also attended BCHS for his sophomore year.

The Morelands married last December with some of their old friends from BCHS in attendance.

High school wasn’t just about relationship building for Moreland. She also worked hard inside and outside the classroom.

“The way that they taught us to study and learn and prioritize in high school was similar to what I did in college,” says

Moreland, who graduated as valedictorian. “Especially with things like critical thinking and writing, those areas I really felt very comfortable in.”

The 25-year-old physical therapist now works at Terrio Therapy-Fitness after earning bachelor’s and doctorate of physical therapy degrees from Loma Linda University.

Extracurricular activities, such as involvement in Associated Student Body, kept Moreland hopping back in high school, too. Spanish teacher and former ASB advisor Gladys Andrews remembers Moreland as a well-rounded student with humility and a willingness to work hard.

“She had God in her life, and nothing was too hard for her,” Andrews says. “She was well-liked, funny, had a real sweet personality and she was just full of life.”

4 • FALL/WINTER 2008 BCHS Today

12775 Stockdale Highway

Bakersfield, CA 93314

(661) 410-7000

Fax (661) 410-7007

www.BakersfieldChristian.com

BCHS Leadership Team

Daniel H. ColePresident/Chief Administrator

Douglas S. Barnett Jr.Athletic Director

Debbie A. CampDirector of Admissions

Karen DierksDirector of Advancement

Susan L. Hemme CPAChief Business Officer

Marcia ManningDean of Academics and Arts

J. Gregory RootPrincipal

Board Members

Alan Larsen, ChairmanUBS Financial Services

Mel AtkinsonM.D. Atkinson Company

Don Camp Jr.Western Power Products, Inc.

Randy CoulterWest High School

Rayburn S. Dezember

Bryan HauptASU Associates

Julia PelzBCHS Retired

Robert E. SmithSmithTech USA, Inc.

Neil VisserVB Ranch

John WhiteInsect Lore

Board Member EmeritusWilliam BolthouseBolthouse Properties

Zeina Moreland wasn’t crazy about going to BCHS for her freshman year of high school.

Now, about 10 years later, the physical therapist and 2001 BCHS alumna says the school “was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Moreland, Abdulla in high school, grew up near Delano and had a 45-minute-one-way trip each day for school. She wasn’t a Christian and was a little wary of what she would encounter at the Christian high school.

“It was the best option for me,” Moreland says in retrospect. “It was a blessing to me to be surrounded by the faculty and students and all their families, knowing that they were supporting me.”

Moreland’s older sister had also attended to a private high school, Garces Memorial High School, and her parents decided to send Moreland to BCHS because of its small class sizes and top-notch curriculum. Moreland says she grew up with a supportive family, though her father wasn’t a Christian and her mother wasn’t an active Christian.

It wasn’t until she became a student at BCHS that Moreland came to know Christ. She was baptized her senior year of high school.

“Prior to going to Bakersfield Christian, I had never even read the Bible,” she says. “After I studied and felt like it was going to be more than just an emotional decision, my heart

High school proved life, soul changing for 2001 grad

BCHS Class of 2001 alumna Zeina Moreland and her family celebrate her graduation from Loma Linda university in June 2007 with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy.

David and Zeina Moreland

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“Even through things would go wrong, such as instruments breaking,” Pandol says, “I learned a lot about trusting God and seeing him work through weaknesses.”

Romania, Europe

For the third straight summer, junior Kayla Yarian traveled with her church, Laurelglen Bible Church, to stay 10 days in the small village of Minish in Western Romania.

Bridging the Romanian/English language barrier, Yarian was able to communicate the love of Christ through her actions, sometimes through body language, a smile or a pat on the back. Romanian missionaries sponsored by the church also interpreted for the group.

“God taught me not to be afraid, even if I don’t know what to do,” Yarian says, “He’ll show me what He wants me to do in that place.”

Yarian and her team distributed food and visited abandoned babies in a baby hospital and the elderly in nursing homes. The abandoned babies were not necessarily ill but were left because their parents either didn’t want them or couldn’t afford to keep them. The elderly

The beauty of Jarabacoa’s river in the heart of the island provides a beautiful backdrop

for the Dominican Republic team as they gather for morning devotions each day of

their trip before spreading out into their different ministry sites.

in the nursing homes were often without visitors.

Along with their love and time, the team provided medicine for the babies and care packages with lotion and socks for the elderly.

“Whether it is in Bakersfield or going to Romania,” Yarian says, “(God) has called us to go and spread His word to all the nations, teaching everyone about what He has for us.”

Dominican Republic, Caribbean

Twenty BCHS representatives set out on a two-week journey to the Dominican Republic through the Student’s International organization.

“Jesus said he came to the world not to be served, but to serve, and the Dominican Republic is a great opportunity to serve,” Spanish teacher Roberto Ramirez says. “We go to places like Dominican Republic to help but when we come back, we’re the ones that have been

Missions, from page 3

helped. We’re the ones whose lives have been changed for the good.”

The team participated in several different outreaches including teaching English, computers and special education in schools, as well as assisting with sport, dentistry and medical ministries.

Teacher and staff leaders Ramirez, Evette Ogden and Derik Watson joined these 17 students: Darcy Allen, Jessica Carter, Naomi Conjurski, Jessica Force, Breann Goodmon, Marcus Hall, Amy Jennings, Courtney McCormack, Elizabeth Golden-Morris, Leslie Needham, Natalie Ogden, Victoria Quillen, Cory Ringer, Brianne Sanchez, Hilary Schroeder, Ryan Stevens and Emily Tiss.

The next BCHS Admissions Open Houses will be Sunday, January 25 and Monday, February 2.Orientation • Campus Tours • Information Booths • Meet Teachers & Students

Receive Admissions & Financial Aid Applications

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