WHAT'S GOING ON AT CHRISTIAN

April 1 update

April 1, 2020

Dear CUSSD Parents and Guardians,

We applaud you for your great efforts to support our transition to CUSSD Mobile Learning as we work together to continue your student’s education. It’s been a priority for our schools to provide a sense of normalcy for our students through a challenging time for our entire country. God remains faithful to our community and continues to equip our staff, students, and parents with the tools they need to march forward in faith through this uncertain time.

We had originally planned to reopen our campus after Easter Break on April 14, 2020. However, our Federal, State and Local Governments have ordered school facilities in California to remain closed. Christian Unified Schools will honor these orders and remain closed for on-campus activities and education for the remainder of the school year.

We anticipated this order and are committed to continue our Mobile Learning Program through the end of the school year. Your Principal will communicate with you this week regarding the necessary details at your campus. We know you have many questions about important upcoming events, including upcoming performances and graduations. Your Principal will continue to communicate with you about those events based on guidelines provided by our State and Local Government Officials. Please note that there will be no assignments or school-related expectations during our upcoming Easter Break (April 6-13).

Although we realize it’s not the same as being in a classroom with teachers, we are proud of the parent, student, teacher partnership that has allowed us to provide an excellent Christian education during this difficult time.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers for our CUSSD Community, our State and our Country. We are all trusting that God is at work in this crisis. Our community remains steadfast and rests in the fact that we serve an all-powerful God and through Him we have the strength to overcome.

Thank you for your trust and partnership,

Your CUSSD Leadership Team

March 13 update

March 13, 2020

March 13, 2020, 1:00pm

Dear CUSSD Parents,
For all of us, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought uncertainty and heightened anxiety, yet our Christian community is strong, and I am confident that we can and will navigate through this together with God’s help. San Diego County has declared a local and public health emergency in response to COVID-19, and the San Diego Center for Disease Control has moved into the phase of limiting community spread, which involves protecting our school communities. For this reason, California’s largest districts and most schools in San Diego, have made the decision to close temporarily.

Christian Unified Schools is blessed that we have a contingency plan in place so that your students will continue to receive a quality, Christian education through their current teachers, that can be completed at home. Each campus leader has been working on a contingency plan unique to their campus culture, and our District staff is spending the day today putting that plan in place.

The decision has been made that Christian Unified Schools campuses will be closed to students beginning Monday, March 16 through Spring Break which is scheduled for April 6 and returning Tuesday, April 14th. We will transition to mobile learning beginning Wednesday, March 18th.

School offices will be open next week during regular hours school hours.
Teacher Professional Development Days are scheduled for Monday, March 16th and 17th (no school for students). This will allow for faculty and staff to fully prepare for the transition to mobile instruction beginning on Wednesday, 18th.
Details will follow from your site leader by Monday, March 16th.
During the temporary closure of on campus facilities:
All academic and extra-curricular activities, rehearsals, meetings, practices, competitions, etc., are canceled or postponed;
All other events previously scheduled on our Campuses are canceled, postponed, or moved to mobile learning;
All non-essential, school-related travel is canceled (i.e., HST trip, field trips, etc.)
All Athletic practices and contests are cancelled until April 6, 2020 or further notice (per SD City Conference).
We realize that this may cause an inconvenience to you and your family and will continue to pray for God’s guidance on how we can be flexible and support you and your family through this challenging time. Thank you for your continued prayers and support as we work together to navigate through this extraordinary time and make decisions around what is best for our students and our entire school community.

Pastor David Jeremiah
Sr. Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church

March 11 Update

March 11, 2020

Dear Parents/Guardians:

We continue to closely monitor the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and will provide updates as necessary. There continue to be no known cases of coronavirus in San Diego County.

We understand that many parents and families are concerned about the potential spread of the virus in our schools and have asked at what point we would consider closing our site. Our charge under state law is to stay open as long as our site remains safe for students and staff. State and federal law empower the local public health officer with broad authority to take all actions needed to control the spread of an infectious disease, including orders to close schools. In our county, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency has this authority and is the lead agency in managing the county’s response to this threat. We have been assured by public health officials that San Diego school closures are unwarranted at this time and could create unintended consequences that would hurt their efforts to protect our community. We will remain in close contact with public health officials throughout the duration of this threat and comply with all of their guidance.

Communities thrive when we all stay committed to each other’s well-being. We must never stigmatize anyone in our community based on national origin and unfortunately this is happening in our District. Students from other countries have not necessarily been exposed to or have COVID-19. Someone who has a cough or a fever does not necessarily have COVID-19.

Our focus continues to be on prevention and preparation. We have an inventory of needed supplies, our staff is being trained on cleaning and disinfecting classrooms, and our teachers are watching for symptoms and providing guidance to families daily. You can support us by following these standard precautionary measures:

Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and use an alcohol based hand sanitizer when soap is not available;
Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth and avoid close contact with people who are sick;
Stay home when sick and call your school to report fever and respiratory symptoms;
Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, throw the tissue in the trash, and clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
Individuals with chronic health issues and/or individuals experiencing severe symptoms should be evaluated by a medical professional, and continue to receive an annual flu shot.
We also want to share that on March 4, local health officials updated their guidelines for when a student should remain home. If your child has respiratory symptoms and fever of >100 F / >37.8 C (lowered from 100.4 F), they should remain home from school and other activities until they have no fever for 24 hours, without fever medication. In addition, if your child has severe productive coughs (i.e., spewing respiratory droplets) that are not typical for them, they should stay home.

Christian Unified School District will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide regular updates as necessary. Your student’s safety is our primary concern and all decisions will be made with that in mind. If you have questions about your site, please contact your school’s front office. We thank you for your cooperation, prayers, and support.

Your CUSSD Leadership Team
www.christianunified.org

Mr. conover’s celebrated move to high school vp

February 28, 2020

by Trevor Dixon, Editor-in-Chief

Earlier this week during an assembly on the 25th of February, Mr. Conover was officially announced as Christian High’s Vice Principal and the newest addition to administration. The promotion came relatively soon after Mrs. Lanz was appointed Principal in January. The overall revitalization of administration leaders has been exciting for the student body as a whole.

Mr. Conover was intrigued by the job offer for the position of Vice Principal, but he wouldn’t give up his passion for apologetics and teaching about the Bible. He explained to the Genesis that “[he has] always felt like young people need to be encouraged in their faith.” Furthermore, teaching is “[his] favorite things to do–to teach students, interact with them, make jokes, play the Wii, do all that stuff.” “But,” he said, “I got some signs that I felt might have been the Lord communicating to me… Recently I felt that God was impressing on me that I could be a positive influence in administration.”

In particular, he is excited to use his personal relationships made through teaching to work toward bettering the school for everyone; “I get to be with the students, hear their voices, connect with them, still have a relationship with them, and then also be in administration where I can take what I hear from the students, their concerns, and what they need, and I can try to implement that in the school. It’s awesome; it’s the best of both worlds.” He wants to develop an even stronger community and environment in parallel with Mrs. Lanz’s focus on God and His Word: “I’d like to see the mindset of the school to be missional, meaning, “I’m not just going here to get a good education, I’m going here to learn how to lead others to Christ–that’s the goal. It’s about us together learning how to bring other people into the family of God.”

Idealistically, he wishes CHS would adopt an outreach mindset and avoid the temptation of a selfish mindset. For instance, through athletic teams, he hopes that as a student body and Christian community, “they would not only want to win games, bu they want to love the other teams,” that sports teams would be missional.

In retrospect, since arriving from Horizon nine years ago in 2011, Mr. Conover has dramatically impacted CHS students in their beliefs and actions. His mission of spreading the truth of God’s Word through education and challenging society’s false norms will not stop in spite of his promotion to administration. If there were six words to sum up Mr. Conover’s hopes for CHS it si Love Jesus, work hard, play hard,” in that order.

You can come visit Mr. Conover even if you have not been summoned by a note from the office, just to catch up or catch some wisdom and always be “educated for life!”

Coach’s Corner

November 19, 2019

Patriot Faithful!

Last Friday was an incredible day at Christian High School. The activities started early (6:20am) with live television coverage on KUSI. STEM Engineering, Woodshop, Cheer, Patriot Praise, Band (drum line) and students writing letters to Veterans were all featured on the Morning Show. The Alarm Clock Pep Rally with band, cheer, football
and our fantastic students, was a great representation of how amazing our students are.

Everyone participated and got all fired up for the big game! In a battle, the Patriots defeated Otay Ranch High School to advance to the CIF quarterfinals in Division II. The victory marked the first time that a small school has been victorious in a Division II playoff game. With current enrollment at 2,413 for Otay Ranch vs. a student body of 389 at Christian, this truly was an incredible win. With just over 6 minutes to go, and the game knotted up at 21-21 the Patriots marched down the field to the Mustang 1 yard line and on 4th down, freshman kicker Hunter Provience drilled the game winning field goal with 1:38 left on the clock. With the
victory, the Pats punched their ticket to advance to the CIF quarter-finals.
Tomorrow night (Friday, November 15) the Patriots will be heading north to face the Panthers of Vista High School at 7:00pm. These are two programs with rich football traditions in San Diego.

On Tuesday, our Girls’ Cross Country team clinched an undefeated City League Championship with Alaina Zamorano continuing her reign winning the league championship and being named the City League, Athlete of the Year for the third year in a row. It has been an amazing run (no pun intended) for this special group of girls.

CHS Girls’ Tennis finished up with a strong 8-4 record. Congratulations to Caitlin Sullivan and the doubles team of Chrysta Perez and Ashlyn Servant for making it all the way to the CIF tournament. It was a great season that saw each girl significantly improve over the course of the season. Great job Lady Patriots!

November 14, 2019 Issue #10

This Week’s Scouting Report:
The Vista Panthers are a very good football team. They have solid size, speed and are a well coached team. Their big back, #22, runs with power and enough speed to create problems for a defense. Vista has had a great season, with many wins, that included victories over Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Buena Vista, Morse, Mt. Carmel and Del Norte.
To be successful, the Patriots will have to continue that strong defensive performance from last week and find a way to control the clock on offense. There’s an old line in sports that says, “You can’t win it, if you aren’t in it.” With last week’s win, the Patriots are “in it” and want to take advantage of the opportunity. One of the reasons for the great tradition of Patriot football has been the program’s ability to rise up in big games.

Will this be another one of those epic Patriot Football runs?

The Prediction: Many of you have reached out to me about last week’s prediction.
Yes! We got that one right on the money with a 24-21 win as predicted in the Coaches’ Corner! So let’s not change a good thing…
It is going to be a nail biter…. Dads will be pacing, moms will often have their heads nervously buried in their hands, praying throughout the night, but the Pats will prevail!
CHRISTIAN 24 Vista 21

The Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question:

The legendary volleyball coach that won all the league titles back in the 80’s was Kim Bell

This Week’s Trivia Question:
What is the largest school the Patriots have defeated in football?
Hint: The victory came in a CIF Championship game…

We will see you all tomorrow night in RED, WHITE and PATRIOT BLUE on the road at Vista High School. Kickoff is at 7:00pm.

GO PATRIOTS!
David Beezer
Christian High School Athletic Director

Missions Opportunities

November 15, 2019

Last week the two missions opportunities were revealed to the student body during a Flex Assembly. One domestic trip to the Los Angeles Dream Center during spring break, and one International trip to northern Spain in mid-Summer. Many students have never gone on a missions trip and wonder the purpose. It’s been reinforced that it is not a vacation or a chance at popularity, but an opportunity to demonstrate servanthood to other people within or outside of the CHS community. Mr. Molumby and Mrs Lanz has been very involved in planning the mission locations and fundraising, and are excited with how the teams are assembling.

When asked the biggest reason for putting together a mission’s trip for 2020, Mrs. Lanz stated, “As a school, we think that missions are really important for helping kids to grow in Christ because it’s important to put ourselves ‘second,’ put others first, and learn to serve.” Principal Lanz goes on to state that “it’s one thing to read about serving or see others serve but it’s a whole other thing doing it yourself.”

The process of selecting the trips took a few months. There were many people who were consulted and asked how CHS wanted to make missions a reality and how to give the students the opportunities to serve and change personally. What the faculty team decided was that instead of having a bunch of different missions trips, they would pare it down to a couple of options and get as many kids involved as possible in those few options. The missions team did have multiple local options such as Phoenix, LA, Costa Rica, through the missions program at Shadow Mountain. However, what they discussed over the past several months was that Spanish is taught as a second language at CHS, so kids would be able to use that second language on a mission trip and apply it in real life.

Alyssa Heinrich became an intrical part as well in selecting the destination to Spain, as she and some other students went to Spain and had an amazing experience. At the camp where Christian High students will be serving, there is a waiting list for the Spanish kids to go to camp because they want their kids to learn English, but what CHS students get to do is teach about Christ and the missions team at CHS really liked that opportunity. Mrs. Lanz stated that it’s “a pretty great opportunity for our kids to use Spanish if they learned it and to work with kids who don’t know Christ at all.”

The trip to Spain has two different dates, one from June 21st to the 27th to serve elementary age students attending the camp, and the second is from June 24th to July 4th for early teens. Students will be “camp counselors,” where they will teach English, but knowing the Spanish language is not a requirement. Though most of the time will be spent serving at a camp, there will also be time in the city of Madrid to adjust to the culture and time difference, and explore the beauty of Spain.

Alyssa Heinrich led fun games for children in Spain.

Veteran’s Day Chapel

November 11, 2019

CES East and West came together with the Christian Junior/Senior High vocal and instrumental arts departments to put on a beautiful Veteran’s Day Chapel. You can watch the entire service here.

New Year, New Chapel

September 28, 2018

At Christian High School, chapel is an integral part of the Christian experience and learning about God. There have been many changes in the fundamental parts of chapel. CHS will be seeing speakers come to our school that have been featured in performances, talks, and events viewed by millions of people. In a recent poll, an overwhelming 94% of students expressed they liked the new chapel feel. Many students have said they prefer the chapel direction more, some describing it as more “interesting” and “engaging.”

One of the goals of chapel this year is to deliver the best possible chapel messages in a captivating way that students can effectively understand, that makes them want to understand and grow in their relationship with God. Mr. Conover explained, “I want the kids to love Jesus. That’s the primary goal, that the kids would learn about Christ, and fall in love with Christ.” As Pastor Jeremiah has previously stated, as a school, Christian High School should want to be known for the outstanding chapels and faith in Jesus Christ. So what can students do to get more out of chapel? Focus on God.

You’ve heard this before, but what does it really mean? First, it takes a submissive heart. Many CHS students have gone to private schools their whole life, and sometimes might not want to learn about God at the moment, or want to live life their own way because they’ve heard everything they need to know about the salvation before. The problem in this is that students may apply this acquired Bible knowledge about God to their heads, but not to their hearts. The Bible calls us as Christians to submit our hearts to God, and love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. This is a process, one that can take time and patience to learn.

From Pee-Wee to First in the League

September 28, 2018

This Friday, the CHS Patriots will take on Mira Mesa High School as they fight to keep their undefeated title. Although the opposition is sure to provide a worthy challenge for the boys, we have confidence that the Patriots will take home another win to finish out Homecoming week. This year’s team is composed of a group of fiercely competitive, highly devoted young men who work hard to represent both Christian High School and Jesus Christ through their sport. They have proven themselves to be victorious time and time again, gaining the title as first in league and 10th in San Diego after beating Monte Vista 22-21 in a nail biting game. The game ended with an incredible victory for the Patriots, as running back/fullback Javier Jimenez pushed through to the end zone resulting in a 2-point conversion and a win for the Patriots. Captain Garrett Rosenthal explains that the victory, “was a real display of our will dominating theirs,” and a result of, “being disciplined and wanting it more than them.” They continued their success last Friday on the road, beating Santa Fe Christian 33-10; a team they had lost to last year on Homecoming night. However, the team’s success has not been contained to this year. For the past four years, the CHS football team has had unparalleled success in its athletic victories. This year’s captains are defensive end Garrett Rosenthal, center and defensive tackle Nathan Lee, linebacker Bryce Riepl, and quarterback Owen Easley.