East Cobber Parade 2014-2015

October. Issue • Vol. 2 Issue 21
Saints Observer
The
2014-2015
In This
Issue:
Sports: Page 2
East
Cobber
Parade
Madison Black
Clubs:
Pages 3
This
year,
on
September 13th, our school
had the opportunity to participate in the East Cobber
Parade, which is a way for
all the clubs and activities
of East Cobb to show their
spirit for their said club. It
also helps to promote businesses, services, and nonprofit organizations. Over
twenty of our JFCA students came to participate in
the parade, showing their
school pride, our school
colors, as well as the fun
activities that JFCA has
to offer. Along the way,
we were also able to support out Nicaragua Water
Project, raising money to
build a well in Nicaragua.
Overall, we had a successful parade, and supported
our school; however, we
did have one minor hiccup, when we accidently
broke the truck’s window, which was Gabrielle
Glenn’s Grandfather’s.
The students all did different things; some held
signs, others threw candy,
while some of our boys
even did cartwheels. We
also had our School’s
Spirit Squad present,
throwing candy and doing
cheers from the back of
a truck. Sadly, our school
turned out losing money,
as sales were quite low. In
order to help support our
Water Wells Project you
can donate some money
and time for volunteering,
as well as overall support
our school. If you wish
to donate money, you
could write out a check
to JFCA, and make a note
that it is for our Water
Wells Project. The donation will be tax deductible and it can be given to
Carmela Merced, Abigail
Quarles, Ivy Cannon, or
James Sexton.
Lastly,
you could help to contribute by purchasing water at
our school’s football home
games, as well as participating in our JFCA ChickFil-A Spirit nights, where
by telling them you are
with JFCA they will donate
20 percent of the purchase
to the mission project.
Tech Spot and
Devotional:
Page 4
New Radio Station
Owen Hagood
Senior Chapel:
Page 5
This year, the newspaper team is proud to unveil
the Saints Observer Radio
Podcast. We have put together a program you can listen to at home and on the
go so that you can stay up
to date on events at JFCA
and around the world. Over
the course of each program,
we will be interviewing students and teachers, making
important announcements,
and doing a quick overview of world news. You
can find it on http://vimeo.com/
user33868784/saintsobserverradiooctober Give it a try today!
SPORTS
Saints Cross Country: Why I Run
Lance Muller
Kyle Kraus
Why do I run? I run to
have fun and to glorify God
through my gifts. When I was
kid my parents made me try
many sports; soccer, baseball,
football and swimming, but
I never really enjoyed them.
When I started running, people just thought I was out for
a “Sunday morning jog”. But
in the second year of running,
I started to understand and
enjoy the sport. I started “trying” and everything clicked.
Since then I have improved
greatly and hope to continue
to improve if it is God’s will.
My coaches make sure the
workouts are challenging but
because I am a part of a team
I am motivated to achieve
my goals. I thank the people
who continue to support and
believe in me. If you would
like to be a part of a close knit
group and develop a life long
skill, why don’t you give running a shot?
Jocelyn Brown
I run because I love it; I
love the pain during the race,
the nerves before, and the
exhilaration afterwards. I feel
rewarded knowing that I have
accomplished something dif-
ficult or something seemingly
impossible.
Anna Tucker
I get pleasure from running
in several ways. While running outside on trials or at
parks, I’m in the fresh air, I
feel joyful and content, and
there is nothing that I would
rather be doing even when the
run is hard. Pushing myself
physically to achieve a goal or
conquer a hard course that’s
before me is rewarding for me
both physically and mentally.
The satisfaction of accomplishing what I never thought I
could, and seeing how far I’ve
come, helps me to raise the
bar of excellence and improve
my performance next time I
race or I am training. I strive
to do well for the reward,
the satisfaction, the physical
achievement, as well as for the
ones I love and my coach. But
more than that, I strive to do
my best for the glory of God.
Running is something that I
am passionate about and it is
a talent that God has given
me to use for Him. Doing my
best for His glory is what I
strive to do whether or not I’m
running. When I run for the
glory of God He gives me the
strength I need to keep going,
to press on toward the goal,
and finish strong even when I
feel defeated. I strive for this
because I know that all things
are possible with God. He can
help me achieve what I think
is impossible.
Will Brown
I run because I see running
as a challenge. Part of that
challenge is to always improve
on the racing time. To achieve
that, I must constantly practice and persevere. That is the
second part of the challenge.
If I persevere, I will feel like
a winner after every practice,
which helps me see things as
half full. The third part is to
think ‘’half way done’’ in a
workout instead of ‘’of crud,
I have to do another one of
these things.’’
Luke Davis
I like Cross Country running
because of all the beautiful
places we get to be and the
time spent outside. We get to
run near the river, in the forest
and on some really nice trails.
Jacob Davis
I enjoy running and the way
it makes me feel and that it
make me stronger. It is fun to
be out with other people, running and talking on the trails.
Volleyball Season Ends with a BANG
Lance
Muller
JFCA sends the ball fly-
ing over the net, and it hits
the ground on the other side,
we win! The JFCA volleyball
season is coming to an end.
The last home games were
Tuesday October 8. The varsity and middle school teams
played vs. Cherokee. Both
teams won, the varsity team
3-1 and the middle school
team 2-0. As of October 14,
the middle school team’s
record is 8-3, the JV team’s
record is 9-4, and the varsity team’s record is 11-3.
The Awards Ceremony night
for the volleyball program is
November 4th. JFCA played
teams like Unity, Mt Bethel,
and Cornerstone Prep. This
year, all three of the Johnson
Ferry volleyball teams are
ranked in the top three of
the GICAA Division 2 region.
The teams are very well
coached, especially with the
coaching staff of Head Coach
Erik Eklund, his wife Jennifer
Eklund, and Kelly Perkinson.
All three coaches are experienced in coaching and playing
volleyball.
Overall, the JFCA volleyball
teams are very strong. Our JV
team played their final game
on October 14, and they finished runner-up in the GICAA
Division 2 region. They won
their 1st match Tuesday night
against Covenant Christian
to get to the finals and then
lost in a tough battle against
Cumberland to end up 2nd
place in the region.
The Varsity team, joined
by talented middle schooler, Missy Bieber, started
Regionals on Thursday
night with a victory against
Unity in the quarterfinals,
followed on Friday with a
victory against Cumberland
in the semi-finals and then
lost to King’s Academy in
a close battle. The margin
of victory for King’s was
only a total of 5 points or
less in each of the 3 sets.
Our runner-up finish was
good enough to earn a spot
in the State championship on
Saturday, October 25th.
Middle School won against
Cornerstone Prep in the semifinals Saturday to go on to
face Covenant in the Finals.
A team they had never beaten
before in the past 2 seasons.
This time was different, as
the Saints won the final in
straight sets 2-0 to end up 1st
in the Region! To top it all
off, the Middle School then
dominated State, taking first
place over all four regions in
Georgia.
Tennis Season Begins
Callie
Sheffieldplaying on the team, and we
The Johnson Ferry
Christian Academy Saints
tennis team is comprised of
some of the top tennis players
in the south. Every spring, we
compete with other private
schools in our area. Most
players have lettered while
hold a winning record. The
team is led by Coach McKinney and Mr. Maiocco. We
maintain a Christ centered attitude by praying before every
match, having good sportsman ship, and leaving it all on
the court. If you would like
to sign up for the 2014-2014
JFCA tennis team there is a
sign up sheet in the school office. The dead line to sign up
is on October 31st.
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Academic Team
Abigail Quarles
Hit the buzzer, answer a
question, and get points!
What could be easier than
that? Well actually it’s
much more difficult than it
sounds as the answer you
give may not be the correct answer. The Academic
team here at JFCA is working to get all the answers
correct as they prepare to
head off to compete in the
TV show High Q and other
scholastic competitions.
The team meets weekly
under the guidance of
Mrs. Merced and includes
Abigail Quarles, Carmelo
D’Urso, Erin Shetler, Ivy
Cannon, Jocelyn Brown,
and Gabi Merced. This
team hopes to go all the
way and win High Q. The
first round is in January
and the rounds continue
through May. So here’s
to memorizing facts from
Presidents to Pop Culture! Thank you so much!
Abigail Quarles
NHS president and Academic Team member
LATIN CLUB
Latin Club is available to all students who have taken or are taking Latin.
Mrs. Schunk runs Latin Club and the president and vice president have
not yet been elected.
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY
National Honor Society is a program for students looking to achieve service hours for/from the school. Carmela Merced is the adult leading the
meetings, Abby Quarles is the president, and Grace Chapin is the vice
president. Throughout the year, there are various events and activities for
members to earn service hours and serve the community.
MUSICAL THEATER
Musical Threater is for any student interested in the performing arts. The
musical theatre group is headed by Jennifer Ceccerelli will be performing “Oklahoma.” The class is available to all grade levels and counts as
an arts credit for high school students. Practices are on every Thursday,
9:30-10:45 AM for 5th-8th grade and 11:00 AM-12:15 PM for 9th-12th grade.
PRAISE & WORSHIP
Bible Study
Caroline Davie
Looking for a place to
be in fellowship with the
people in your grade?
Come to bible study.
Bible study groups are
separated by grade and
gender to create a more
intimate atmosphere.
Each group is run differently, but main activities
include a topic to discuss,
passages of scripture
to read, sharing prayer
requests, worship, and
sometimes, snacks. It
is a great time to get to
know some of your other
friends at school in a setting outside of the classroom.
Bible study occurs every
other Tuesday from 2:30,
right after school, until
around 3:30. The next
meeting is on November
3. If you are interested
in joining or to find out
more information, ask
your friends, teachers, or
the office about which
room to go to.
Here at Johnson Ferry
Christian Academy, we
are blessed to attend a
school where we can
freely study and discuss
God’s Word with our
peers, so take advantage
of that opportunity and
come to the next bible
study.
Praise and Worship, or band, meets on Mondays from 11:00 to 12:30. The
band plays in each of the chapel services. This class counts as a fine
arts credit, and currently has 8 members. Bobby Smith, the Contemporary Worship Pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, leads the class
and hopes that each member will use the opportunity to become better
musicians for the worship of God.
The 2014-2015 Worship Band:
Bass: Will Tucker
Drums/Perc: Justin Shetler
Electronic: Jaron Grounds
Acoustic: Morgan Giesler
Synth/Piano/Acoustic: Abigail Clarke
Piano/Synth: Thomas Gilbert
Piano/Synth: Justin Keener
SURVEY
Favorite Core Subject
Callie Sheffield
50 Johnson Ferry students of all ages were asked which of the four core subjectes
was theair favorite.
MATH: 10
ENGLISH: 13
SCIENCE: 13
HISTORY: 14
Advice Column
anonymous
Question:
I’m saving up for my first
car. Is it possible to work a
job and do all the school in
High School? I am still in
Middle School. Thanks!
Dear Middle Schooler;
Hi there! Thank
you for submitting your question! As a middle schooler,
and highschooler, there are
definitely ways for you to
work a job. The key to balancing both school and a job
is good time management.
This might involve you working during times that you
wouldn’t normally work, like
on Saturdays! *GASP* This
actually isn’t as bad as you
would think, as this will also
be quite beneficial to give
you more time to study for
upcoming tests/quizzes on
Tuesdays and Fridays! To do
this means spending less time
on Netflix and more time
focusing on school.
Here are a few tips
to manage your time. One
idea to help manage your
time is to make a homework sheet. To do this, go
on PlusPortals once you get
home from school, and organize all the homework you
are going to have for the next
few days. By organizing your
homework for the week, you
can have everything right
infront of you, and know
what you are going to have to
do. If you do make a homework sheet, it can help you to
have your homework separated into different sections.
These sections can be written
in order of when you plan on
completing them. Don’t look
at your homework, and say,
“I don’t have a lot. I’ll just do
it later.” This is not always
the case, and might take longer then you expect. This is
called procrastinating, which
means to put something off.
After that, you want to start
right on your homework. By
getting ahead, this will allow
you more time for your job.
Thank you for your
question, and I hope to hear
from everyone very soon!
~Anonymous
“Walk in wisdom toward
outsiders, making the best use
of the time.” Colossians 4:5
ESV
FYI
Technology: iPhone 6
Cooper Foster
It’s finally here! The new
iPhone 6 is out! Another
surprise, however, was
their was a second iPhone
released as well. Not only
do we have the new iPhone
6, we have the iPhone 6
Plus. The iPhone 5’s screen
size was just 4 inches
across, while the iPhone
6 is now 4.7 inches. The
largest of all, though, is
the iPhone 6 Plus with a
5.5 inch screen! That’s
huge for a phone! While
the size of the screen is
pretty incredible, the resolution of the screen is even
more amazing. On most
Apple screens, there is a
thing called Retina display. All iPhone 4s and 5s
have Retina display. On
an iPhone 5, the Retina
64-bit architecture first
released in the iPhone 5S.
They also have the new
M8 motion coprocessor.
Apple’s motion coprocessors were introduced in the
iPhone 5S, however the M8
is exclusively used in the
iPhone 6s.
The invitation of Jesus
to follow him begins, ‘If
anyone…’
It turns out that anyone
means anyone.
Anyone means me. Anyone
means you.”
-From the book
“Not a fan” by Kyle Idleman
display is 1136 x 640 pixel
display. That is pretty
good, but the new iPhones
have something called
Retina HD display. It is
incredibly high resolution!
The iPhone 6 has a 1334 x
750, and the iPhone 6 Plus
has a resolution of 1920 x
1080. Pretty good, right?
2 Corinthians 5:17
ties in with what Kyle Idleman said because when you
become a follower of Christ
the things that you have
done in the past aren’t important. Mistakes that you
have made in your past,
God doesn’t care about.
You have been reborn and
now are a new person. The
old you has been replaced
by the new you. Anyone
and everyone can become a
Christian. God lets everyone become a Christian;
there aren’t things that you
have to qualify for. God
won’t cut, you like in sports
and say that you aren’t
good enough. Anyone and
Everyone can follow God;
you just have to be willing.
While the screens in
themselves our incredible new technology, they
barely scratch the surface
of all the new features in
the iPhone 6. I’ll start with
the complicated stuff first:
The new phones feature
brand-new A8 chip with
the 6 are the same as the
5S, the iPhone 6 has it’s
own new camera technology, too. The thing that
was most inventive was
something called Focus
Pixels. In side the camera,
there is a board behind the
lens. This board has tiny
receivers that detect light
rays to help the camera
focus. Its a very complicated process, but it will make
a huge difference in your
pictures. Also new was an
extension on the panorama
camera. Now you can
finally take a panorama of
your entire beach that your
spring-breaking at to post
Like with every new
iPhone, the camera was of
course heavily improved.
Both iPhone 6s have the
same camera specs, and
they are much better than
the iPhone 5S. They have
the same revolutionary
True Tone flash, as well as
an 8MP camera. They also
share the Sapphire Crystal
lens screen, to prevent
the screen from breaking.
Though several features on
Devotional
Grace Thomsen
“If anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; the
old has gone, the new has
come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Anyone Means Everyone
“Jesus begins his call to
follow him with these two
words, If anyone…
Anyone is a significant word because it makes
it clear whom he is inviting. He is inviting anyone.
Anyone is an all-inclusive
word. Anyone means everyone. Jesus doesn’t begin
with a list of pre-qualifications. His invitation
to follow is addressed to
anyone. Many people don’t
realize they’ve been invited
to follow. They think, “Not
after what I’ve done. He
wouldn’t want me to follow
him. I would never make
the cut.” They assume they
aren’t qualified and as a
result never take seriously
what it means to follow
Jesus. After all, what’s the
point of auditioning for the
part or trying out for the
team if you know you don’t
have a shot?
to Instagram or Twitter.
Finally, Apple added
small accessibility features
to the new phone to make
your experience that much
better. The largest of all
was putting the lock button
to the side of the phone,
not on top. You can also
make calls over wi-fi now,
but when you step out of
the range of the wi-fi network, it transfers over to
cellular data without disconnecting the call.
If you wanted to buy
these iPhones, it will set
you back anywhere from
$199 to $499. The iPhone 6
16 GB version costs $199,
and the iPhone 6 Plus 16
GB version $299. Apple
made an
interesting
new change
to the pricing of the
phones.
Usually a 32
GB version
would be
$100 dollars
more than
the 16 GB
version, however with the
iPhone 6s they skipped the
32 GB version and went
straight to the 64 GB version. On the iPhone 6, the
16 gig costs $199, like I
said before, with the 64 gig
only $100 dollars more.
This is a very smart marketing strategy, but don’t
let Apple get the best of
you. If you just want a 16
GB, don’t let the new storage pricing fool you into
getting more storage than
you’ll really need. All said,
this is an extremely inventive phone, and definitely
worth every dollar.
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CHAPEL
Caroline Davie
The first Johnson Ferry
Christian Academy chapel
of the 2014-2015 school
year was a huge success!
After school at 2:30, formally dressed students of
every grade level gathered
together in Student Center
South. Everything was run
by the students – beginning with the worship. The
worship band included
Will Tucker on bass, Justin
Shetler on the drums, Jaron
Grounds on electric guitar,
Morgan Giesler on acoustic guitar, Abigail Clarke,
Thomas Gilbert, and Justin
Keener on the piano, and
Anna Hardin, Mark Wilder,
Melanie White, Cameryn Rogers, and Morgan
Geisler as singers. After
an amazing worship session with our musically
talented students, JFCA
gave a warm welcome the
youth pastor from First
Baptist Church Atlanta,
Matthew Slemp. He gave a
great message about unity
in Christ. He described that
even though we all have
individual gifts and talents,
Senior Chapel 2014
we can all work together
and use those talents and be
united under one purpose –
to bring glory to God. Pastor Slemp mentioned that
though he enjoys singing in
harmony, a much greater,
more powerful sound results when everyone sings
the melody. Similarly, we
as Christians have power
when we are all united.
After the message, the band
played a couple more songs
and next was announcements – including the
‘Merica spirit day winners!
Of the many pictures that
were submitted, the high
school winners were Gooie
Glenn, Jenna White, and
Bridget Walton in their
matching overalls! After a
few more announcements,
everyone left the Student
Center South to socialize
in the lobby. This chapel
was the first of four, with
the next ones on December
2, February 10, and March
24. Overall, chapel was a
great time to get dressed
up and worship God as a
student body.
SPIRIT DAY WINNERS
‘MERICA DAY
COMMUNITY
Maker Faire Atlanta
Cooper Foster
If you’re into 3D
Printers, Oculus Rifts,
Robots, and several other
kinds of cool tech, then you
would really like the Maker
Faire. Happening in downtown Decatur just a few
weeks ago, the weekend
could not have been better
for this fun event. There
was not a cloud in the sky,
but it was chilly so the sun
was not overwhelming. I
attended with my friend,
Ethan, and we had an awesome time. While we were
walking in, our first sights
were huge crowds, several
white tents housing cool
tech and art, and a man
wearing a viking helmet
motoring around in a blue
velvety cart. I definitely
recall seeing some cool
booths. There was one with
old Macintoshes and other
old PCs. It was fun because
you could play really old
games on them. While
there were a lot of old
dinosaur computers there,
Maker Faire Atlanta also
featured a lot of new tech.
Multiple Oculus Rift Developers had booths there,
and I learned a lot about
the inventive technology
inside the Rift. Obviously,
they also had 3D printers.
They had big 3D printers, small 3D printers, and
even 3D-printed 3D printers all hard at work printing random stuff. I saw a
$13,000 3D Printer printing
a gear! At the Faire, it was
hard not to notice the huge
Quadcopter flying over everyone’s head, or the artsy
bikes that took up a whole
parking lot. While tech
was a huge part of Maker
Faire Atlanta, there was
a lot of art as well. I personally think art is pretty
boring, but this art was
cool, modern, and interesting. Like I said earlier, the
Maker Faire had an entire
parking lot filled with old
bikes that a local art group
transformed into fun-filled
two-wheelers. Several kids
were riding around, and my
friend Ethan even hopped
on! He only almost wiped
out twice on his 30-second
ride. Bikes barely goes far
to describe the interesting
art there, however. A big
name also attending the
faire was Noosh, a local
artist. He was doing cool tshirts involving wood at his
booth, and selling them. I
can’t describe this intricate
process well enough, but
you can find it at nooshstudios.com. If you missed out
on Maker Faire ATL 2014,
I apologize, but do not worry! It should be back next
year. You can find all the
information your brain can
handle on the Maker Faire
at makerfaireatl.com. I had
such a great time, and I’m
sure it will be even better
next year!
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