Heartland Christian School recently participated in the American Heart Association "Jump Rope For Life" program from March 23rd to March 25th.  Organized by PE and Music teacher Sara Michaud, 60 students in grades Kindergarten through 4th raised approximately $275.  HCS 3rd grade student Parker Kaser (pictured far left) commented, "This was a lot of fun!  It's great to give our hearts a workout and help other people's hearts at the same time."

Kindergarten Roundup Ad for the News Sun in April 2009

Etiquette is more than just knowing the rules and doing the right thing; it is being at ease in any company and making those around you feel comfortable as well. 

Heartland Christian School is taking the SAT's (Stanford Achievement Tests) this week.  A yearly benchmark of educational progress for all students in grades Kindergarten through 11th, HCS encourages your family to find out more about why Heartland Christian can be your destination for quality education for the 2009-2010 school year!  Pictured here is Mrs. Van Note's 1st grade class.

HCS recently participated in the ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) Math Olympics competition in Ft. Myers at Southwest Florida Christian Academy.  HCS came home with 3 three 1st place champions!  4th grade student Peyton Kaser, 8th grade student Esther Arnold and 5th grade student Ansley Selander all earned their first place awards in Math computation execises through a series of 4 tests during a 45 minute period against over 300 students from around the Southwest Florida region.

Heartland Christian School received a $5,800 grant from the Berakah Foundation in California to continue developing the campus Etiquette program for students in grades 5-8.  All middle school students at HCS are required to take Etiquette as a class, which focuses on developing manners, improving social skills and learning ballroom dancing.  Pictured here are Etiquette Program Coordinator Debbie Cwalinski and Foundation Relations Director Bobbi Moody.

Fifth-grade students practice the art of conversation

By LAURA NESBITT (photo crdit to Jasmina Meyer)

Highlands Today -- Published: April 25, 2009

SEBRING - How do you start a conversation?

A class of 16 fifth-grade students at Heartland Christian School can answer.

"Ask them what they do in their spare time," said Dylan Doughney.

Almost all the students in the class raised their hands to answer the questions asked by their teacher, Etiquette Program Coordinator Debbie Cwalinski.

Cwalinski has taught the class for fifth- through eighth-grade students for seven years. The school recently received a $5,800 grant from Berakah Foundation to continue the class. The money will be used to remodel an already present classroom into an "etiquette suite" with a serving buffet, cloth napkins and an area to teach ballroom dancing, said Bobbi Moody, coordinator of foundation relations and grant research. Students will assist by doing things like painting.

Tuition goes toward classes, but the school has struggled with funding. The grant money will enhance the program, Moody said. It received a 2004-05 exemplary program award from the Association of Christian Schools International, through which the school is accredited.

The etiquette class students are graded on a pass/fail basis. At the end of the quarter they'll use their skills at a banquet dinner at the Kenilworth Lodge in Sebring.

"In all the years I have only considered failing two students," Cwalinski said.

The basics of the etiquette program, Cwalinski said, are treating others with honor and respect.

"We begin with things like basic table manners and introductions," Cwalinski said.

After going over basic conversation skills, students got tips from their teacher on etiquette no-no's.

"Try to avoid complaining," Cwalinski said.

"Keep upbeat and positive. You'll learn the more that you practice, the more you'll learn what's appropriate and what's not."

Then students reviewed an informal place setting using their desks as a table.

Katie Lee walked back to her desk with a china dinner and bread plate, a glass, and silverware balanced in her arms. Several students made two trips. After she placed the table-setting Katie sat very erect and upright at her desk.

Cwalinski asked the students if they remembered how far back the dinner plate was from the edge of the table.

Students began slowly edging their plates closer to the edges of their desks.

When asked where napkin went on the table, Wyatt Kinslow got it right on second try.

"It's easy stuff, but it's fun," smiled Cwalinski

Heartland Christian 2nd-Grader Wins Spelling Bee

By MARC VALERO (photo credit to Jasmina Meyer)

Highlands Today -- Published: March 7, 2009

SEBRING - By spelling "peninsula" correctly, Heartland Christian School second-grader Jabez Asuncion won a regional Christian school spelling bee.

After 22 rounds of competition recently at Winter Garden, the 7-year-old proved victorious over 37 other second-graders.

Jabez's mother, Jean Asuncion, said her son diligently studied a list provided by Heartland Christian School.

Jabez said he studied six pages of words with 96 words on each page.

"He went through every word," Asuncion said.

Each evening Asuncion randomly picked words from the list for her son to spell. He had just a little trouble with the easy words, she said.

But there was a little confusion in their practice sessions.

"I came from the Philippines so a lot of times I can't pronounce it right and he said, 'you cannot pronounce it right that's why I can't spell it right,'" Asuncion said.

So then her son asked for the definition of the word and she had to get the dictionary.

Parents were not allowed to view the competition because of the accommodations and they didn't want the students to be nervous with their parents watching, Asuncion said.

Jabez said math is his favorite subject because it is easy.

A New Beginning at Heartland Christian

By DAN HOEHNE (photo credit to Dan Hoehne)

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

NEWS SUN -- SEBRING - It's funny how life works sometimes.

How connections with the past can be revisited and be the start of a whole new beginning.

Such is the case for the Heartland Christian volleyball team, as a former coach has tabbed the new one.

"I was at Hill-Gustat and they asked me to coach the eighth grade volleyball team," Heartland Athletic Director Hal Graves said. "Now I didn't know much about volleyball, but I know talent when I see it.

"There was a girl that stood out from the moment she came onto the floor," he continued. "She just took control, knew what she was doing. I learned more from her than she ever learned from me."

That standout student was Shannon Fassler, who would go on to play four years at Sebring before moving on to college.

"Then one day a few years later, I'm announcing a game for (SFCC volleyball coach) Kim (Crawford)," said Graves, who also lends his dolcid tones to announcing Panther athletics. "And who do I see playing for Polk (Community College), but Shannon, and I thought 'wow, she's really gone far with this.'"

Flash forward a few more years, and Graves was at his post at Heartland, looking for a new volleyball coach for the Chargers.

"I'd see her brother most days, and it dawned on me, so I asked him if she'd be interested," he said.

"I thought it would be a good place for me to start, with me making the transition from playing to coaching," Fassler said. "And I thought this would be good for them, with the tools I can bring. Heartland is a great school and they do the best with what they have, and I thought I could really help them by giving them the best of what I have."

Still, it's a long way from playing for the Blue Streaks and at the junior college level.

"The timing was really good," Fassler said. "A couple years ago, I don't know that I would have been available, or ready to go from player to coach. And I'm encouraged now with what I see."

"There are some really good athletes here, but they really didn't have a lot of the fundamentals down," she continued. "At first I was like, augh, but I could see that I had athletes to work with, and they've made so much progress."

And in a school the size of Heartland, the pickings can be slim, even if in Class 1, student -athletes down to 6th grade are eligible.

"We aren't Sebring with thousands of students to choose from," Fassler said. "We have a little more than 100 students from kindergarten through twelfth grade."

"But these girls have a lot of heart. They haven't had a lot of winning in the past, but they want to learn, the work really hard and it's a nice, close-knit group."

The hopes are growing, as the team watched the Sebring Preseason Classic, to get a taste of a higher level of volleyball - and they left with a good impression.

"They were seeing things that we've been doing and said, 'hey, we can do that,'" Fassler said. "So that was a bit of a confidence boost."

And the team won't be shying away from the bigger schools, as Fassler seeks to put their feet to the fire early on, with games set up against both Sebring's and Lake Placid's junior varsity teams - they will meet the junior varsity Blue Streaks Thursday at 5:30 p.m., prior to the Sebring varsity facing Palmetto.

"They may beat us, but it won't be a slaughter like some would think," she said. "I don't expect us to win every game, but I want to see them work hard and be a competitive team, and we're very capable of that. It's not just about winning either. I'd rather see them play their hearts out, play good volleyball and lose, than to win a game where they didn't really play well."

And, perhaps, the best news for both Fassler, is that it is a young team, with Caitlin Cwalinski and Christie Davis being the only seniors on the squad.

There aren't even any juniors on the roster, with sophomores Carolyn Cwalinski, Lydia Ford, Kayla Kaszubowski and Rebekah Watts, freshman Ellen Arnold, eighth graders Esther Arnold, Kayla Selander and Katie Vickers and seventh grader Sara Bohan.

The good news for Heartland?

Fassler isn't in this for the quick fix.

"I really like it here. That it's small and very close-knit," she said. "And I've got so many younger girls that I want to work with and see them all the way through."

A brighter future for Heartland Christian volleyball and their new coach, Shannon Fassler.

And to think, it all started with an eighth grader and her coach.

 By BRAD DICKERSON (photo credit to Jasmina Meyer)

Highlands Today -- Published: May 2, 2009

SEBRING - Abraham Lincoln is remembered for leading the country through the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and, for Chelsea Qualls at least, his beard and hat.

"I just think it makes him unique," said Qualls, a sophomore at Heartland Christian School.

Members of the school's etiquette class worked as servers at Friday's Law Day luncheon. Aside from keeping glasses filled and plates cleared, they too reflected on the country's 16th president, whose legacy was the theme for this year's celebration.

"I like that he came from humble beginnings," said fellow sophomore Lydia Ford. "He worked his way up from being barefoot on the farm to being president of the United States."

Eighth-grader Esther Arnold admired Lincoln's ability to "stay calm under pressure" as he faced the numerous challenges that came with leading a nation during civil conflict.

<more to story but abbreviated here due to space> 

2009 Law Day Essay Contest Winners 

Grades K-2nd

1st Kenneth High; 2nd Baily Travers; 3rd Devante Edwards

Grades 3-5th

1st Briauna Smith; 2nd Alexander Hammett; 3rd Ansley Selander

Grades 6-8th

1st Rachel Tibedo; 2nd Hiram Obregon; 3rd Kayla Selander

Grades 9-12

1st Vihang Nakhate; 2nd Molly Gossett; 3rd Christian Perilla

Judge Clifton M. Kelly Award - Judge Angela Cowden

Highlands County Bar Association Law Day Award - Robert Saffold

Highlands County Bar Association Jani Branham Scholarship - Heather Mikell 

Heartland Christian School recently received a $10,000 grant from the New York Community Trust for general program purposes.  Pictured here are Business Manager Sherri Gibson and Campus Administrator Dacia Kaser.

Mother's Day in first grade

May 10, 2009

By CHRISTOPHER TUFFLEY (photo credit to Christopher Tuffley)

SEBRING -- Donna-Kay Van Note's first-graders at Heartland Christian School invited their mothers to afternoon tea and a whole lot of loving Friday afternoon.

The children had spent about a week writing essays and creating cards.

Each bravely got up to the front of the class to read what they had written, then shared pink lemonade and bite-sized chocolate and lemon cakes in the shape of flowers.

Not only that, but the children each had a heart-shaped caladium in a pot wrapped with pink gauzy ribbon to give to their mothers to take home as a gift.

The young gardeners -- they are also growing egg carton gardens of watermelon, sunflowers, cucumbers, zinnias, marigolds and tomatoes -- each started the caladium's from bulbs a few weeks ago.

"We want to thank Bob Hartman, the owner of Classic Caladiums in Avon Park, for donating the bulbs, pots and potting soil," Van Note said.

The children didn't give away any family secrets. But Dylan McMinn said his mom, Susan, loves to eat chicken. Lizzie Belotte said her mom, Lori's, favorite dessert is upside down pineapple cake. And Kyle Fronda's mom, Joed, loves to eat squid.

Wayne Graham's great-grandmother, Gigi June Cravey, attended the party as well as his mother, Brenda Lockhard. Ariana Bullington had both grandmothers attending, Marie Bullington and Patrina Whittington, as well as her mom Alisha Bullington and her younger brother Ryan. And Ava Curtis was thrilled when her grandmother, Estela Gonzalez, arrived early and stayed late.

A picture of Morgan Graham at the recent 2nd Grade annual field trip to Dinosaur World.  Here she is searching for clues both inside and out!

Heartland Christian School students recently took the SAT testing series (Stanford Exams).  For grades Kindergarten through 11th, 70% of HCS students scored at least 1 grade level above nationally normed scoring; 90% of all HCS students scored at or above grade level.

Follow HCS Junior Ryne Hartt as he participates in the 61st Annual National High School Rodeo Finals in Farmington, New Mexico at www.nhsra.com and www.horsecity.com, to be held from July 19th-25th.  Featuring more than 1,500 contestants from the US, Canada and Australia, this is the world's largest rodeo competition.  See the Wednesday, June 24th edition of the News Sun for more details.

HCS is winding up its 4th and final week of summer school.  Students were able to take classes to make up work from the 08-09 school year or to work ahead for the 09-10 school year.  Pictured here, from l-r, are 3rd grader Paige Kaser, Sophomore Matt Aubrey and Computer Teacher Charles Henley.