Thursday, May 8, 2014

Catch Some Football Fever!!


Spring Training is about to wrap up for the Mighty Lions Football Team...and the coaches love what they see!!
New athletic director, Brandon Parrott, said, "The thing that I have been most impressed with this spring is how excited these players are for next fall. They have showed incredible focus, effort, and enthusiasm since Day 1 of practice."
Parrott said, "The head coach search is entering its final stages and it's been a great process.  The SACS football program has established an incredible reputation in the coaching community and it was great to hear how highly area coaches feel about it.  The committee has shown an amazing dedication to this process and with God going before us the entire way, it has been clear the direction we are supposed to go.  I look forward to having an announcement soon and rallying all the Lions' fans to come out and support our new coach."

Get excited school family....it is going to be a great Football Season 2014...our team is what????


RED HOT!!!


Photography by Rebecca James

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

SACS SEND THREE TO MILITARY ACADEMIES IN THE FALL...MOST EVER!




San Antonio Christian Schools (SACS) is pleased to announce the appointments of three graduates from the Class of 2014 to the top U.S. Military Academies.   This is the first time in school history for three to be selected from one graduating class.
 
Ross Prado has received a full appointment to the United States Air Force Academy, and was awarded the official documentation from one of his SACS teachers, Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Bracy, USAF, retired.   Prado participated in high school athletics, drama, and as a member of a Ukraine mission team which ministered to Ukraine orphans the last two summers.  He was selected to study in summer internships at Yale and an engineering program at Vanderbilt since his sophomore year.  This year the Air Force Academy accepted 1200 out of 9000 applications.

Bennett Gerlinger will join the next freshmen class at the United States Military Academy at West Point.  Gerlinger served as Student Body President his senior year at SACS.  He displayed leadership on the football team, mission work in Atlanta, Boys State, RYLA Youth leadership, Gold Youth Leadership State Seminar, work with the Special Olympics, writing for the high school newspaper staff and through exceptional academics.  This year West Point accepted 1200 out of 13,000 applications.

Jonathan Castaneda received a full appointment to the United States Naval Academy.  Castaneda excelled in areas of academics, athletics including Varsity Basketball, Youth Basketball Camps through Roy Maas Youth Alternatives, Inc., tutoring, Texas Boys’ State, West Point’s Summer Seminar, and the Naval Academy Summer Seminar.  This year the Naval Academy accepted 1200 out of 16000 applications.

Dr. Jake Walters, SACS Superintendent, said, “I cannot imagine a finer group of young men to represent our school, our city, and our state at the military academies.  We are very proud of their accomplishments and they will take our hearts and our prayers with them."

Congratulations to these stellar young men and their families!!

  

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Six SACS Grads Involved with Major Film Production!

There is still time,SACS Family, to reserve your tickets for this amazing film....Return to the Hiding Place

This acclaimed film has already won over 19 Film Festival Awards and Honors.  It was produced by a group of Christians with experience in the industry; however, they left their jobs to produce this one film because they believed so much in the story.

It is the only film ever allowed to film in the real Hiding Place in the Netherlands.  Even the original Billy Graham movie, The Hiding Place, which focused on the Ten Boom family, did not shoot in the real location. 

The six SACS graduates involved 

Peter Spencer - Director/Writer/Executive Producer
Rachel Spencer Hewitt - Actress
Josiah Spencer - Co-Director and Editor
Philip Roy - Director of Photography/Cinematographer
Gideon Spencer - Actor
Megan Pearce - Actress

Rusty Sugg, SACS Director of Admissions, filled in with this information:
"It was Peter Spencer’s parents, Duane and Mary Alice Spencer, who began Grace Bible College Preparatory School in 1966.  This school, of course, became San Antonio Christian Schools in 1972.  Peter was a student at Grace.  Three of Peter and Maria’s children (Rachel, Josiah, and Gideon) attended SACS.  Petra Spencer Pearce (the film’s producer) did not attend SACS, but her daughter, Megan Pearce, does and she represents the third generation of Spencer children to attend Grace/SACS.

SACS is abundantly blessed to have a good number of families who have been with us for two generations (former students whose children now attend SACS), but the Spencer/Pearce family has been with us since the very beginning.  I am sorry to say that I never knew Duane or Mary Alice, but we all are benefactors of their legacy."

Let's go enjoy this movie, and support our SACS family!  Dr. Walters has seen it and gives it a big thumbs up!!

Monday, April 28, 2014

Legacy Legends: Jan Taylor



                    “SACS is more than a school…SACS is a body of Christ.” This is one thing Jan Taylor, San Antonio Christian School’s (SACS) Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent, has noticed during her thirty-four years at SACS. She believes SACS does more than prepare; it ministers. It has ministered to her family and has impacted them in many ways.
                    Taylor has had four children come through SACS. Her children are Zachary (38), Marie (37), and Kelly (34) and Kristen Taylor (34), whom are twins. They each started in kindergarten and stayed through their senior year, a total of 13 years each. The Taylor family has been with SACS from nearly the very beginning of the school since their graduating years were 1995, 1996, and 1998. After speaking of how SACS was like a community, Taylor says, “It’s been the kids friendships. It was their social.” Taylor says her children have maintained their friendships through SACS. One of Taylor’s daughters even married a fellow SACS grad that graduated in 1997. Taylor thinks SACS was and still is an important part of her children’s lives. She says, “I believe it was a very defining part of their growing up,” and she believes the things they learned at school reflect on how they now raise their children. Her children not only went to school everyday, but also went to their instrumental community.  
                    When Taylor came to San Antonio, she wanted to put her children in a private school, and SACS was one of the first and most common one she heard about. Taylor says, “I never even considered any other Christian school in town. SACS was the only one I thought of.” Taylor believes God opened the doors and allowed all four of her children to go through. After six years of having her children in SACS, she got her first job at the school as a Home Economics teacher. When asked why she wanted to work at SACS, she simply replied, “Because they [her children] were here.” She worked at the school, not only so her kids could go there, but also so she may be more involved in their lives. Between her Home Economics job and her current one, she has also been a Junior Varsity (JV) volleyball coach and has even been on the custodial staff. She worked wherever she was needed. At the school, Taylor knows she is there to serve, and her children were there to learn and have a strong Christian foundation built into them. Also, while at the school, she has gained many friends that have always been right there with her to encourage her in her walk with Christ. By working there, Taylor says, “I was able to plug into the ministry of SACS.” She says SACS is not a private school, but a tight-knit ministry that helps construct young Christian lives, and Taylor fit perfectly into it.
                    Because she has been at SACS for so long, Taylor has been able to notice things most likely many others have not. When speaking of the foundation, she compares the school to a house. Much like a house, the school has had many repairs or changes throughout the years, but the foundation stays the same.  “There’s been changes, there’s been good times, there’s been bad times, but the foundation of Christ being preeminent at this school has held firm,” says Taylor. SACS’s foundation is to minster to each other and all those who come their way to build on the Body of Christ. That is what SACS will always be, a Body of Christ. Because of this, Taylor believes SACS has been such a blessing in her family’s lives with its support. She also believes its strong spiritual environment that branches off its foundation has been a positive influence that is always ministering to her and her family. She says, “SACS teaches faith, truth, integrity… there’s loving discipline.” This Body of Christ may teach all the academics and fine arts, but most importantly, it ministers.

                    Through Taylor, it is easy to see how SACS is more than a school. It is not only a place to go to for eight hours to merely grow in the knowledge of math, science, and the many other classes it offers. SACS is a powerful social community. It is a constructing tight-knit ministry. And most importantly, San Antonio Christian Schools is a Body of Christ. 

Reported and Written by Rebecca James, SACS High School freshman

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Elementary Celebrates All Things Texan!

We are Texan and Proud to Shout it!!  April 11 was a day full of celebrating spring, Texas heritage, and Fiesta for Sacs Elementary students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
And everyone enjoyed the party while learning of our major cultures which made Texas all that it is today.  Special zones included Hispanic/Fiesta...German...and real Texas Cowboys!!





There were 20+ booths included a chuck wagon, roping practice, tin punching, games such as a washer toss, singing and story telling around the campfire, tortilla making, cascarones, more cascarones, the Mexican hat dance, sausage making, Maypole dancing, spinning wheel, Scripture recitation in German, cloggers, candle making, tug-of-war, and much much more.





Thank you to all who made it a super celebration!!



Photography by SACS Sophomore and Yearbook Staffer, Allison Ling!


c.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Legacy Legends: Rusty Sugg


Mr. Rusty Sugg has been working at San Antonio Christian Schools (SACS) for 24 years and is now the Director of Admissions at the school. He began looking for a temporary job as a middle school Bible teacher, but it did not take long for him to realize this is where he wanted to stay. Sugg understood that God is a sovereign God and he always had the best in mind for him. He has now impacted the lives of many students and families as a result of being here for over two decades. 
One of the great things about SACS, according to Sugg, is that it is a partnership school. Meaning the school works with the families and the church to influence how the child or young adult develops in their Christian and academic walks. The parents, the teachers, and the coaches all have an influence on the student's life. The community of SACS raises the child all together.  The phrase it takes a village to raise a child is actually an appropriate one for this case. 
A specific instance about SACS that best exemplifies this, is when the SACS football team played the Giddings State School, which is a juvenile correction facility. Giddings did not have any cheerleaders, a band, or even many fans, so that is where SACS came in. The SACS students would sit on the visitor side of the bleachers and cheer for the Giddings Indians as well as the cheerleaders and band. Sugg recalls, "…every Giddings player received a 'goody bag' that contained letters of encouragement written by our football players to theirs, a Bible, and fun stuff to eat and drink for the trip back". The school did something small for Giddings, but it impacted them in a big way. The experience also affected the SACS players and will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Cory Sugg was a wide receiver on the team during this time.  Both Sugg sons, Cory and Jordan, graduated from SACS and Texas A & M University.  Both serve Christ in their chosen professions, and are married.

Written by Walker Leonard, SACS freshman