Mind, Heart and Soul

Sitting in a presentation at the POL evening that our Secondary and Middle School campuses hosted recently – I was reminded of some of the discussions that we have been having internally with a marketing firm helping us re-shape our brand identity and essence. Working with Partners and Hawes (the marketing firm we have hired) has been extremely rewarding and affirming. They continually take us back to our insistence on both educational courage and faithful presence –in their words – faithful leadership. The presentation (at the POL night) was as much about who was presenting as it was what was being presented. It was clear that this student (currently in grade 12) was innovative, passionate and courageous – yet uniquely combined those assets with humility, intentionality and kindness. All in the context of a Biology project expressed through poetry. It was an ultimate picture of what we aspire to be as a school … and what was beautiful is that what we aspire to, was evident in this student. It gave me hope for both this person and our world! The beauty of the evening is that our community got to experience this all over the campuses. The POL evening was not only a chance for students to share their learning in deep, meaningful ways, it was also a prime opportunity for ACS to show its personality, its essence, its … brand.

Partners and Hawes has been helping us see that:
• we are combining entrepreneurial academics with a Christian worldview
• as an entire Christian community (or village), we educate the whole-person
• we hire and retain faculty who are not only scholarly, but understand today’s culture – they are also highly courageous to move beyond the standard approach to educational best practices (as evidenced in the POL evening)
• not only are we preparing graduates for 21st century citizenship, we are also inspiring them with the courage and conviction to shape the world that they find themselves in – they are the next generation of Christian leaders

The list above is really who we are – it’s what we aspire to be, it’s what is at our core - our essence.

*If you wish to hear more about our upcoming marketing plan or our vision for sharing our brand with others in the future – please don’t hesitate to contact me – I’d love to share with you where we’re headed – God has huge things in store!

-Julius Siebenga

A Story to Tell

At the time of this writing, I am off to a Principal’s conference in Ontario. At this Principal’s conference I will be leading a workshop entitled “Keeping the Hope Alive”. The workshop is meant to encourage other principals in their work, and by and large the entire workshop will be spent telling stories about what is happening at ACS, telling stories about people at ACS, and telling stories about what will happen at ACS. In the middle of my planning for this workshop a wonderful story came into my inbox. It was so beautiful, and powerfully moving, and it tells a story better than I ever could … here it is: I am a parent at ACS and I currently teach in the public school in Abbotsford and have had the unique opportunity to have been placed at Alexander Elementary school. As you know, this is a community with incredible needs. As we like to put it: every child has a story. That said I would like to share the story of Ethan. Ethan is 10. He comes from a single-parent home. He really doesn't know who his Dad is, has a bothersome older sister, a distant mom, and gets himself to school on his own every day. He participates in our school breakfast program 3 days a week, and the only lunch he gets is provided by the school lunch program. I'm not sure, but I think he only has one shirt (or, it's his favorite shirt and he only wears it every day...). Ethan is on a designated IEP and has severe learning disabilities. He is self-depreciating, angry, and needs constant affirmation. He wears a mask of confidence, but is completely defeated. He is kind, gentle, and "squishy" on the inside with a tough exterior. This week he spent most work periods crunching up his work or "going to the bathroom" to avoid any kind of task. He has had a lot of playground confrontation this week, as well. On Thursday I was matched with one of your grade 7 students as a part of your service work that ACMS is doing. I sat him beside Ethan. Something wonderful happened. The two boys began a conversation and this grade 7 boy helped Ethan complete his work. Ethan stayed focussed and on-task. Ethan actually finished an assignment! I encouraged the boy to play football outside during the lunch break and he led a great game where my students finally played fair! For the first time since school started, there were no complaints after lunch. Just having the presence of these "cool," older role models changed something inside my students. The kids in Division 1 at Alexander Elementary cannot wait to have your ACMS kids back! The staff-room was a-buzz with positive encouragement after the team left. They were pleased with the quality, compassion, and "Let's just get in there and do this" attitude! What a terrific example of living the mission statement! I write this note to encourage you at ACS. I believe in your vision. As a teacher, I have seen the change that 2 hours in one class can make! As a parent, I am looking forward to conversations with my daughter, praying for our community with our kids, and encouraging a comfortable "stretching of the boundaries of our comfort zone". Keep on "busting-out"! All the effort is worth it. As you can no doubt sense, I can’t help but share this story and others like it with anyone and everyone! ACS has a great story to tell!

How is your ROI

God is good and we are entering into another school-year of service to our King. Often at this time of year I am overcome by the sacrifices made by so many of our families so that they can send their children to our school. Each year we raise our tuition just a little bit more and we are reminded each time that it can be a financial burden to continue investing in ACS for our children. Sometimes we even ask the question of whether or not all of this tuition money is worth it? Is my Return on Investment (our ROI) something that we believe in? Now, more than any other time, parents are asking this question: what will my ROI be if I send my children to ACS? Of course this question (the ROI question) is one that is relevant to whomever it is that is asking the question, and at ACS we are not afraid to acknowledge and deal with this question – because we know full well that it is being asked. The other day, as I was a part of the “cloud of witnesses” that was saying “I do, God helping me” after the pastor directed me to do so as part of the church’s ritual during the sacrament of an infant baptism, I began to think about this question (the ROI question) in the context of a Christian community that promises to love and protect a child as he/she grows up. I thought of the awesome covenantal community that we are part of at ACS and I could not help but think that our ROI will be excellent. I think of the ROI question when I am engaged in discussions at ACS in regards to our educational boldness, and I am often struck by the fact that at ACS we take seriously that our parents expect their children to be educated and prepared for a 21st century. We are not just a Christian school any more: we are a cutting edge educational institution that educates covenantal children through a Christian world and life view! How can our ROI not be top-notch? Heidi and I think of this question often, especially in the context of dropping off our children into the hands of incredibly talented teachers who partner with us in educating our children. At the end of our year last year a teacher shared with us that one of his morning rituals is to sit in the students’ desks before they arrive in the morning and pray specifically for the well-being of that child that day (He does this for a week in succession for each student). That’s partnership! What a ROI we are experiencing! I thought of this question recently as I was sharing with a marketing expert what the “brand experience” of ACS was. I was passionately explaining our school to this person and I found myself getting excited about what we offer and how engaged our community is in educating our children at ACS – it made me pause and realize that the ROI for our children was tremendous. I admit of course, that I am biased, but perhaps some of you have had similar experiences that have allowed you acknowledge what I have recently. Or perhaps you are becoming more and more concerned with your ROI in regards to ACS and you need to talk with someone about improving it. Or perhaps this your first year at the school and you have been told about the ROI here – and you are expecting big things. Where ever you find yourself on this continuum – its our hope that your answer to the ROI question is a positive one. It’s our goal to make it that way. So let’s start our year proclaiming to accomplish this together as we dedicate yet another year of service to our Lord!

There's No Place Like Home

This past weekend Heidi and I decided that our children needed to be introduced to one of the classic movies of our time … Wizard of Oz. If you are 40 or older, you can probably still recite parts of the movie and you can remember where you were the first time you saw the movie as a child. As I watched again with my children (whom we were pleasantly impressed, stayed interested for its entirety) I was struck by the main theme of the movie that I of course never picked up on in my younger years: the theme of wanting to go home. If you recall – early in the movie we are drawn into the music of “Somewhere … over the Rainbow”, and we all come along to Oz to see if Dorothy can find this “somewhere”, and see if the scarecrow will be given some brains, and the Tin Man a heart, and to see if the Lion will be allotted some courage . Throughout the movie, we are constantly reminded of the fact that perhaps everything we needed and wanted was really right at home or inside of us, to begin with. In the case of the Wizard of Oz … Oz turns out to be a big fraud anyway … and Dorothy really has everything she wants right at home. “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” I believe all of us are fundamentally wired with a sense of “home” and our homecoming. We have a sense of longing and of restless desire to find our home. This theme of longing is very biblical – one could argue that it is one of the central themes of the biblical story. The hope of God’s story is in essence a yearning for the restoration of God’s creation. The Old Testament is packed with stories of God’s people longing to find their way home. From the fall, to Abraham to the Israelites in Egypt, to the desert, to Canaan, back to the desert, into the promised land, desiring to be like other nations who had a King – pleading with God for a King – many of the Kings leading them astray and then coming back to God – going into captivity in Babylon and Assyria – (it’s no secret that some of the most famous and beautiful words were written at that time was when God’s people longed to go home) – building up the temple again and ultimately the coming of Jesus. In his book “Desiring the Kingdom”, James K.A. Smith lays stake to this claim as well. He claims that all of us are longing for “the Kingdom”. “To be human …” says Smith as he quotes St. Augustine “is to be after something, and to be after something is to love something” “love defines us – it is fundamentally a part of our DNA”. According to Smith if we really want to find out about somebody, don’t ask them what they do, but rather ask them what they love – undoubtedly you will get a clearer picture of who this person is. So this is all fine and good – but by now you are asking the “So What?” question – what does this have to do with the school and ACS? The answer is this: At ACS we believe that we are educating with a clear understanding of this premise of desiring and loving. We recognize that for there to be authentic learning happening at our schools – our children have to have a true sense of desiring the Kingdom, and a true sense of loving. How is this evident? It is seen in the everyday things, it is seen in the fact that we don’t just drill information into our children, but we engage them so that they become lovers of the learning. We don’t just educate the heads and the hearts, but we use our hands because we fundamentally understand that our children will only learn when they can practice what they are taught and what they believe. At ACS, we see this idea of “Desiring the Kingdom” resonate in many different ways. Our children are affective, desiring image bearers, who are primed to transform the world – and they will understand that when it’s all said and done … there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home. Julius Siebenga Works Cited: Smith, James K.A. “Desiring the Kingdom”. “The Wizard of Oz”, MGM Studios

Purple Cow's and Remarketability

Have you ever seen a purple cow? Of course not - although if you did, you would really be impressed wouldn't you? Imagine driving through the Sumas Prairie seeing pasture after pasture of Holsteins - only to see a purple cow! You might even stop the car for another look - maybe even get out and take some pictures. If you were really feeling up to it - you might even research the farm and find out how a purple cow was bred - because having a purple cow is quite remarkable! "The Purple Cow" is a book written by marketing expert Seth Godin - who shares about the importance of becoming and being uniquely remarkable. He claims that the world of marketing has changed. We should find our purple cows and celebrate them, and then share this with those who know it best - and allow these people to share it with everyone else (word of mouth).

Among many things, January and February are in large part known to be "promotion" months in the rhythm of what happens in the business of school. This is the time of year that many Christian families (especially families with young children) truly are in the decision making mode about what school they will send their children to. As a result of this, schools (specifically independent ones) spend a lot of time and energy putting their brand in front of these families so that they will indeed choose their school. There are ads in the paper, on the radio, in magazines, and online, encouraging people to sign their children up at their school. ACS is no different as we also need to do this and do it well. Perhaps people have noticed our advertising push and market splash at the kindergarten level - believing that once families start at ACS they will stay for the next 13 years (generally proving to be true 95% of the time).

Although recognizing the importance of marketing ourselves in the way that people have always done it, at ACS, we believe that the best way to market ourselves has more to do with who we are. We believe in being remarkable, we believe in providing "Purple Cow" programs that parents can't help but share with other parents, we believe that we owe it to our image bearing children to be absolutely remarkable. Once we identify what makes us remarkable - we then finds ways to market this - thus the word "remarketability". This remarketability requires us to spend the time, energy and resources into being remarkable - so that we indeed can market ourselves in these areas. We would hope that our parents would then be the ones who share this remarkable story with others. People have said for generations that the best way to market yourself is through word of mouth - and we believe this wholeheartedly.

Another reason that we chose kindergarten as a place to focus our attention is that we truly believe that it is a remarkable place - a Purple Cow! In early January we held our annual Kindergarten Information Night: we shared the philosophy of ACS, we shared some of our stories with those in attendance, and then the current kindergarten teachers, Nancy Humphries and Debbie Goertzen specifically talked about the kindergarten program. We concluded with a couple of parents sharing what was remarkable about kindergarten from their own experience. It was clear to those who came that night, that our kindergarten is a remarkable place - something that has remarketability!

By now, most parents/guardians have re-enroled their children for next year (unless their youngest is graduating in June!). We are just entering into open enrolment season and it seems as though what we believe is remarkable is again making its way into the community - people are asking about us! Maybe even more so this year than in others. Even though it's natural for us to be making a huge push at the kindergarten level, we would love more families at others level as well (provided we have space). What are our Purple Cows, what is it about us that is uniquely amazing, what is it that you wouldn't hesitate to get excited about? Feel free to share ACS with others, be our mouthpieces and share with them what makes us remarkable!

-Julius Siebenga
Executive Director

Works Cited: "The Purple Cow" by Seth Godin, 2002.

One Body - Many Parts

Consider the following two examples of teachers’ response to the following question during a parent/teacher conference:

Parent Question: Hi Mrs. _______________ Please tell me how my child is doing in your class?

Scenario A:
Teacher Response: “Hello Mrs. ____________, let me take a look at how your child has done academically … well based on his marks in my grade book here, it looks as though he handed in all but one assignment, and did very well in his most recent test – wow your child is progressing nicely – you should be proud of him. Let him know that he should keep up the good work”

Scenario B:
Teacher Response: “Hello Mrs. ____________ , I just want to tell you that just yesterday I noticed your son stop what he was doing get out of his desk and pursue another student who is struggling both to understand the work that was assigned, and the courage to ask questions about it. This struggling student has some learning challenges and generally has little confidence in accomplishing assignments correctly. Not only is your son progressing nicely with his individual work, I used that act of kindness as an ultimate example of how I would like to see our classroom exist this year.”

What teacher appeals to you most as a parent?

This past spring our Special Education department went through a difficult time (more so than usual) sorting out their budget, and it was extremely difficult to address how best to meet the needs of our special needs children, given the budgetary constraints that they found themselves under. It is true that we go through this every year, and it is true that we agonize/compromise through it knowing that we just can’t provide everything that we want across the board because there just isn’t enough funding available to do what we want. Last year, in this process we were re-exposed to some beautiful things about our Special Ed. program, our school, and our school community. Of course it’s a little sad that it sometimes requires economic struggles for us to get to this point – but God knows how we work – and generally our attention is especially gained when it affects our pocket book. Nonetheless, what was crystalized was the following:

• Our Special Education Program continues to be sought after in the Abbotsford community

• Although the program in and of itself is excellent, what sets us apart is our philosophy of inclusion and how we see the Special Education program as fundamental to our entire educational experience – not just for students who qualify for funding, but just as important in the building and shaping of all of our students.

• Our inclusion philosophy in no way hinders our march towards academic excellence and relevant learning, in fact it enhances it.

• This model of inclusion is financially taxing on the system – our school community shells out an additional 35 percent of the total cost for this program (approx. $200,000), through its tuition and donation dollars.

• Our community continues to believe wholeheartedly in this philosophy of inclusion and the costs associated with it.

Perhaps you didn’t know one or any these facts. Perhaps you’d like to engage in a discussion about them – we’d love to have them with you – stop by.
In the meantime – click on this video that you can find on our website. It is a new promotional video specific to Special Education and our inclusion model. We’re excited about it and will be using it from time to time in various settings. Thanks Special Education Coordinators and Tym Berger (MS Principal) for piecing it together.

We are one body with many parts. Thanks for being a part of this body, for committing to us being more than just a ‘pay for service organization’, for staying engaged in the life of the school, and for continuing to support us here and throughout the community. ACS is a great community and is committed to accomplishing what we say as Christians about community – we are one body with many parts.

Click on the following link to see more:

http://www.abbotsfordchristian.com/admissions/Pages/SpecialEducation.aspx

A Question of Relevance

Over the summer, as a part of a Fellowship that I am a part of, I attended a week long Professional Development Seminar in Grand Rapids Michigan. It was called the Van Lunen Center (http://www.calvin.edu/vanlunen/). Much of this fellowship was spent reflecting on what Christian Schools in North America are doing as we prepare for the 21st Century. I was saddened to learn that every Christian School umbrella organization in North America (including ours which is called Christian School’s International or CSI) is reporting a shrinking in their schools (in other words - schools are closing) at an alarming rate. Many of the stories that we shared were centered on how we need to be careful not to be a school that is in danger of having to shut down. In digging in to what the reasons might be for this, it often came down to a question of relevance. Are Christian Schools relevant to the 21st century parent? More and more, parents are questioning the cost of Christian Education and asking whether or not it is worth it from a relevance perspective. Even if we don’t necessarily like this to be the question that is first asked, we also have to be realistic and know that this is the New Normal . This is a question that we ask ourselves often at ACS. Are we relevant? Are we relevant to our parents who want the very best for their children? Are we relevant to our students who, more than ever, desire to be fully engaged in their learning? Are we engaging our students in ways that convey an understanding that is relevant in today’s day? In this desire to be relevant, are we staying true to our Mission and Vision as God’s call for our school? We believe that as a school we have no choice. This is not a matter of trying to educate our families to know better. We must be relevant to stay true to our calling as images of our Living God. We must be bold in our quest as Christians if we are to stay faithful to our Saviour. We owe it to every family that is a part of our school to be leading the charge in answering the question of relevance. There are some key areas of our strategic plan that will be rolled out this year that we believe will continue to answer this relevance question in a positive way …
Some things to look for or watch out for in the upcoming year:
• We will review our Library Program this year and develop a plan moving forward.
• We will review our Athletics Program and develop a 5 year plan.
• We will implement Project Based Learning (PBL)and Presentations of Learning (POLs) standards at the Middle and Secondary levels.
• We will investigate “seamless” student access to technology, perhaps investing in / piloting a one-to-one lap-top (or tablet like the IPad) initiative at the secondary.
• We will expand and enhance our global connections initiatives (our connections in Nicaragua) and engage our community in it more so.
• We will create and cultivate an Alumni Association that will be vibrant.
• We will develop a parent ambassador program to help recruit families to our school
• We will develop new recruitment strategies to encourage Christian families outside of the traditional supporting community to send their children to ACS.