Red Lion Christian The Roar Fall 2015

the

roar

A student publication of Red Lion Christian Academy

issue 1 fall 2015

Homecoming

A week for students to display their school pride Page 10 also inside

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Fight of Her Life

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o

Zaina Greene-Johnson tells the story of her mother’s struggle with cancer Page 6

redlionca.org

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and much more...

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Miss Robinette Page 8

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Meet the Teacher Meet new teachers Mr. Walker and

Red Lion

c h r i st i a n Ac a d e my Fall 2015

ADVISER Aaron Hamrick EDITOR IN CHIEF Evelyn Chen STAFF Zachary Albano Cole Boulanger Lilly Cera-Proulx Ben Geoghegan Nicolette Short Catherine Tu Olivia Walsh Lee-Ann You

INSIDE This ISSUE 1390 Red Lion Rd. Bear, DE 19701 www.redlionca.org admissions@redlionca.org 302 – 834 – 2526 Cover photo by Aaron Hamrick

FEATURES Up close and personal with Zaina Greene-Johnson 6-7 Meet our new teachers 8-9 Homecoming and elementary garden 10-11 Fall sports wrapup 12-13 Much More!

Gabby daPonte, Katelyn Shoemaker, and Katie Crawley sell donuts on the first day of school as part of a fundraiser for their mission trip to the Dominican Republic in February. photo by Aaron Hamrick

A NEW YEAR BEGINS

670

students are in the school

Senior girls Gabby daPonte, Morgan Holt, Katelyn Shoemaker, and Katie Crawley make their way over to the chapel building for the opening service during the high school retreat at Harvey Cedars Bible Conference Center on September 9, 2015. The underclassmen spent one night and the seniors stayed one more night.

8 AP

classes offered

98% attending a college or

university

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varsity sports After a day of preaching, worship, games, swimming at the beach, and volleyball, students gathered together around the camp fire to sing praise and worship songs. Ben Leary and Michael Collins lead the impromptu worship time by playing their acoustic guitars.

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Red Lion Christian Academy/The Roar

The junior class goes crazy cheering during Color Wars, a special pep rally held on October 16, 2015 to see which class has more spirit. Although they tried their best to show their enthusiasm, the sophomore class walked away with the coveted spirit stick.

The spirit week concluded with the homecoming dance on Saturday, October 17, 2015 held in the Pusey Center. Ben Leary, an eleventh grader, is hoisted in the air

by Josh Richmond and Justin Schmitz as they dance.

www.redlionca.org

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fight life of her

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Red Lion Christian Academy/The Roar

Ninth grader Zaina Greene-Johnson

tells the story of her mom and her battle with cancer

“My story starts when I was eleven, but

She is a single mom and my dad does not

then turned twelve in October and my

help at all.

Nanna had died the following November

She had her 40th birthday in a chemo

and that was a very hard time cause my

chair and that was a very hard moment

Nanna pretty much raised me.

in this cancer fight because we know we

She did everything for me from when I was born till I was five. That was a very

could have lost our mother.

After my mom had become cancer free

hard time for my family since my mom

on May 30, 2013, I came to Red Lion the

was always feeling sick and tired and not

following school year 2013-2014. I became

wanting to do things throughout the time

a Christian and everything started to get

that she raised me. So my Nanna took her

better. I started to realize and understand

time away to help raise us.

why God put me through all of this. That

In January 16, 2013 we found out that

day was amazing and emotional because

she had stage 2 cancer. After we found

we finally got to have our mother back

that out, everything went in a downward

because she was always too weak to do

spiral.

things with us, and so many trials came

She had chemo every two weeks on Thursdays. My sister had to take on some

with her having cancer.

As the year went on things started to

of her jobs like picking me up from school

get better, then things happened again

and helping to take care of me.

and my grandmother died on May 10,

Everyone around me just felt sorry for

2014. When my grandmother died it

me but I really did not understand how

was absolutely horrible for my family

bad it really was. The thing was, it was a

especially my mom. My mom became

curable cancer; my mom really was in a

really depressed and sad. That month was

fight for her life. It made me realize how

that month my mom was cancer free, but

much I really needed my mom and how

we did not celebrate anything because she

much she really meant to me.

was so upset over my grandmother.

She is in the army and even though she

When all of this happened to me I

had cancer she was still on order for the

started questioning again why would God

army. She went to work every day except

put me through this. At the end of all this

chemo weeks. She still continued to work

mess God brought me though it and I

because she had to support our family.

understood again why God did this.�

Zaina Greene-Johnson

www.redlionca.org

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Meet the Teacher Two new faculty members share about themselves and their relationship with Jesus Christ Miss Brittany Robinette High School Social Studies B.A. University of Delaware

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Red Lion Christian Academy/The Roar

“I was raised in a Christian family. With the influence of my parents, I attended church since I was little. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was about eight years old. However, it wasn’t until my sophomore year in college that I truly surrendered my life to Him and lived for Him actively.

When I was in my senior year of high school, I had the opportunity to go on a mission to Puerto Rico, which completely changed the way I see Christ. The kids there were in extreme poverty. They could barely support themselves with food. Yet, they had such a great amount of hope and were so devoted. What I witnessed made me realized how blessed I was and how I must have hope for all the things I had.

By the time I went to college, I had been greatly involved in my church and various ministry work. Through these services, I felt that I was getting closer to God. I found myself truly living out the scripture.

Now, working as a teacher here, has further strengthened my spirit because I’m surrounded by a lot of godly, elderly and distinguished women. They are extremely kind and hospitable. They have led me to become more Christlike. Every day I am reminded that to let every action be honoring and glorifying to Him.”

Mr. Aaron Walker

Business Teacher M.B.A. Anderson University B.S. Wilmington University

Q: What do you like about Red Lion?

A: Before I started teaching, I spent a lot of years doing things in regard of business but, after years, I have learned that teaching is my passion. I never enjoyed doing business as much as I did being a teacher. I really enjoy teaching business at Red Lion. There are plenty of great kids and I have established a wonderful relationship with my students. I am excited to come to teach every day.

Q: What is your favorite class to teach?

A: My favorite class is Intro to Business, and it is because business is what I am passionate about. I have about ten years experience in business consulting. Previously, I was a college professor, teaching business.

Q: What is your favorite sport?

A: Football and this is also why I coach football here.

Q: What is your favorite football team?

A: My favorite team is the Dallas Cowboys.

Q: What do you usually do after school?

A: I have a son and he is going to be three in February. I would like to take him to different places, like zoos and parks and explore the world with him. Other than that, I like to watch sports and play golf.

Q: What would you say about the overall relationship between you and other faculty members?

A: Everyone has been really friendly, and I got to know Mr. Gibson before I came as I attended the Redemption Church.

Q: Would you like to share a brief testimony?

A: In high school, I played sports to stay out of trouble because of the unsafe condition of the area in which I lived.

One night I was with the wrong crowd and they were going to do something bad, so I was told to leave. The other day, they were arrested. A year later, I witnessed my best friend kill my other friend over a video game. Those kind of tragic events reminded me that I was here for a reason and I just had to find my purpose. When I moved to Indiana, I was drawn to church by the family of a girl I was dating. That was where I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. www.redlionca.org

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Around the World

On October 17, students gathered in the Pusey Center Gym for the homecoming dance to enjoy a night centered around cultures from all around the world “We got to taste a little bit of everything, stuff we’ve never tasted or even heard about before.”

Kristen Parker

“The way they did all the art and sculptures was pretty cool.” Austin Barbin

“We had some centerpieces that we had been working on for a while. A hot air balloon with a globe, and we had cutouts of the pyramids and the Eiffel tower.” Sara Tatnall

“Before homecoming me and a few friends gathered together at Sara’s house and we took lots of pictures.” Jazmine Corley

Save the Date!

January 4 Students return from Christmas Break January 30 Delaware 87ers faith and family night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Feb 12–20 The Senior Class take a missions trip to the Dominican Republic March 17–19 Performance of the Musical “Guys and Dolls”

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Red Lion Christian Academy/The Roar

A Garden of Life

Junior Jonathan Huey helps build a garden to improve the elementary science curriculum and for his Eagle Scout project.

“It was for my Eagle Scout project. The Eagle Scout is the highest rank in boy scouts. I’ve been in scouting since first grade.

I did it because the school reached out to me because they knew I was in scouting and needed a project to do and said that they needed the garden. I was happy to do it and immediately wanted to help with that.

So over the course of six or seven months I raised money, I planned, I got helpers, and I got everything together.

In may of last year we built a garden.

I lead a group of other scouts and some family members. We built it in one day.

The school wanted the garden to enhance the elementary science curriculum. They could learn how the plants grow in the classroom and then go out to the garden and see the plants grow and see what they learning put into action.” Jonathan Huey

www.redlionca.org

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a peek at fall sports...

FOOTBALL VOLLEYBALL Record 2–8

“The most unforgettable moment I had during the season was last game against Seaford. It was our senior night, and initially no one thought we were going to win. We were losing but we came back at the end.”

Da’Shaun Cain, 10

Record 6–8

SOCCER Record 7–8

“I think we definitely improved a lot on communication, opening up more on the court. I think we become more united and tougher both mentally and physically.”

Janai Gibson, 9

“The most memorable moment I had during the season was our senior night against Tome. It was my sister’s last game and my last time to play with her We also won in three sets.” Ani daPonte, 9

“I think our team has improved this season as our records have shown: we only lost two games. Even though we lost a lot of players and the team was stronger last year, we still performed a very high level this year.” Taylor Wright, 10

Colton Herbein, 12

“The most memorable moment we had during the season was scoring our final goal against Delmarva.

Michael Collins passed to Jacob Stollings and he scored. We won 3-0.”

Michael Markakis, 12

Daniel McNeil, 11

“The most remarkable moment I had during the season was against Lake Forest. Randi Agard passed the ball to me and I scored my very first goal.”

Nick Capano, 9

“Most memorable moment I had during the season was the last game against Seaford. It was our senior night. During that game, I made two interceptions; Daniel McNeil threw the ball and I made a great catch at the end.” Carlos Dean,10 Gabby daPonte, 12 “I think the best game we played was against Saint Andrews. It was tied 0-0. Carlos had that amazing catch to get us on the scoreboard. We got a touchdown and won the game 7-0.” Darin Kellam 12

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Red Lion Christian Academy/The Roar

“The best game was against Conrad. We played our best even though they had a strong squad. We fought hard and put two goals in the back of the net.” Colton Herbein, 12

CHEER

FIELD HOCKEY

CROSS COUNTRY

“I think our team improved this season especially with stick skills, getting around our defender, and being more precise with our speed and positioning.”

Claudia Glover, 10

“There is no doubt that our team improved this season. At beginning, most of us could not do the warm up, which was only a mile. Now we can all do that easily and we have beaten our time for the 400 meter run.” Morgan Kline-Hill, 10

Record 3–10–1

“I enjoyed leading the cheerleading team to a fun and successful year. My favorite game this year was the first home game because everyone was excited, the crowd was into the game, and the cheerleaders performed our best.”

Katie Crawley, 12

“The best game we cheered was the homecoming game because all of our stunts hit, all of our tumbling was beautiful, and we came together very well.”

Zaina Greene-Johnson, 9

“Most memorable moment during the season was my senior night against Dickinson. I usally play defense but that night I had chance to play offense and scored a goal. We won 3–0 and it was a really wonderful game.” Sara Tatnall, 12

“The best game we cheered was our first performance against Saint Andrews. We cheered with all our energy, and presented a very wonderful performance. The crowd seemed so excited.”

Shelby Long, 7

Kaitlyn Larson, 10

Nancy Wang, 11 Julianna Thompson, 9

“The most wonderful memory was when we had a winning streak for 3 games. It was really cool because Red Lion did not maintain a good level at winning the past few years, so it was awesome to achieve that with my team and it helped us grow more united and closer” Becca Posey, 9

“I think our team made a huge progress this season because we all increased our speed and our times were improved. We also ran a lot better at the end of the season.” Bradley Sewell, 12 “The best race this season was at Killens Pond because I personally did pretty well despite being injured for most of the season. I also came to be the number one runner on the girl’s team.”

Morgan Holt, 12 www.redlionca.org

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Emily Bradley, 2015 Liberty University English Education “The most challenging thing in college is time management.

Taking AP English classes and learning how to write effectively greatly help me in college. There are a lot more students so I am able to meet new people all the time, but I still have a close friend group.”

Gabby’s Growing Love for Missions During the summer, Gabby daPonte went on a mission trip to Atlanta, Georgia with her youth group. Through local organization, Atlanta Dream Center, they went to the low-income apartments and refugee neighborhoods to help with trash, paint and etc. Besides, they did homeless ministry.

They went to the street: picking up trash, distributing peanut butter jelly sandwiches and water, and talking with those people.

It was such a significant experience, as she revealed to us, because she could follow God’s calling and let herself be fully used by God to help those who are in need. Furthermore, it was amazing for her to share gospel with these people to whom she does not usually talk. One night, she and her team had conversations with women either in prostitution or sexual trafficking They prayed with these women and gave out roses and cards.

As she witnessed the poverty and unsafe situation the kids were under, she was so glad to show the love of God to them. This trip has taught her how we could make a big difference in the world by just doing some simple things. Gabby will continue doing missions after high school as she told us, “that is my dream.“

Nicole Robinson, 2015 University of Delaware Early Childhood Education “The most challenging thing is to balance my schoolwork, extracurricular activities and social life. The skills I learned by taking AP classes enable me to be independent on studying and reading. I miss the social aspect of high school the most. I really loved participating in events like homecoming, prom and sports. I miss all these memories.”

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Red Lion Christian Academy/The Roar

Kaitlin Ulmer, 2015 Salisbury University Nursing

Alex’s Adventure Alex Feeney has one of the most exciting adventures. He has been to the Midwest, Alaska, China, Italy and etc. Led by his grandfather, he started his journey since 2012. They had a truck pulled with a pop up trailer. It took them SEVENTY-FIVE hours to drive to Alaska. He went to the Eielson Air Force Base where his grandfather was stationed as a member of the air force. Alex got into the air traffic control tower and had an amazing experience. Also, he reached the Arctic Circle, the

“The most challenging thing in college is that the work material is very in depth, so you have to understand it and know how to apply. RLCA taught me to study in advance in order to do well on exams. I miss the spiritual aspect the most, especially devotions; and I miss my friends a lot.”

southernmost latitude in the Northern Hemisphere at which the sun never sets.

Not only has he seen a lot of U.S., but he also traveled overseas. He has been to Shanghai and Beijing. There he enjoyed the food and experienced a different landscape and culture.

Traveling not only enhances his passion for photographing, but also strengths his connection with his grandfather. His grandfather has made books of their journeys that record the memories they shared.

Undoubtedly, these books will be valuable legacy for the entire Feeney family.

Alex just got back from Italy. Where is his next stop going to be?

That is an interesting question.

Angela Berry, 2015 Hampton University Pre-Pharmacy “The most challenging thing is trying to find where you fit in.

There are more people in college and it is hard to find those friends that you can easily connect to.

RLCA taught me how to balance academics and extracurricular activities. I miss the teachers in high school the most because they would offer help whenever I needed.” www.redlionca.org

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