School news this week from Southwest Christian High School:

SWC Fine Arts Night

On Monday, November 15, the SWC Players (the school’s improv acting group) gathered for their fine arts night. The group performed several improvised skits as well as one planned skit based on the story of the woman caught in adultery from John 8. There were copious amounts of laughter from both the audience and the students themselves! Students were full of clever one-liners. Interspersed with students’ acting, the winners of this year’s Den Ouden Writing Contest read their pieces for the audience. There were two categories for the contest: prose and poetry.

The winners of the prose category in order from first to third were Noah Eshuis, with a stirring story of a sailor who must come to grips with the loss of his crew; Nia Iverson, with a heart-throbbing tale about a man’s recovery from combat-induced PTSD; and Keira De Boer, with a shocking account of a mentally deranged girl whose dark thoughts lead her to commit terrible actions.

Each of the stories presented by the students displayed remarkable insight into deeply human realities such as suffering, love, and redemption. The judges must have been hard pressed to assign the final places in the contest––each work was so outstanding!

The winners of the poetry category, again in order, were Aidan Schaap, Makenzie Pap, and Kathryn Prins. The poetry section of the contest took on a lighter tone than the prose section, but was no less enjoyable. Each poem charmed, entertained, and soothed the audience in its own unique way!

Music Dept update

The music department at SWC is off to a busy start.  We kicked off the year with our fall concert during the first week of October. This concert featured a variety of musical styles including hymns, praise, pop, and a few novelty numbers.

Bel Canto and One Accord just finished up their first semester performances at evening church services. These auditioned groups performed at local churches throughout October and November. They look forward to preparing music for contest and concerts in the spring.

The SWC music department is excited to have the following students selected to participate in the Honor Band concert held at Dordt University on February 26 at 2:00 pm: Morgan Kooiker – Flute, Kathryn Prins – Flute/Piccolo, Annika Dyk – Clarinet, Jayda Dilly – Bass Clarinet, Julianne Eisma – Tenor Sax, Grant Busker – Bari Sax, Vivian Dyk – Trumpet, and Caleb Fey – Trumpet.

We are also excited to have several students audition for the ACDA 9th-10th grade Honor Choir festival. About 750 students from across the state audition and only around 250-300 are selected.  We are excited to announce that Kylee Brands will be performing in the 9th and 10th grade SSAA honor choir as a soprano.  The concert will be held in Benson Hall at Bethel University on Saturday, February 19, at 5:15 pm.

Finally, preparations for the SWC High School Christmas concert are well underway.  We are excited to present a concert that celebrates the “Wonder of Wonders” that is Christ’s birth and the Christmas story.  The concert will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, December 20, at Bethel CRC.  Please join us celebrating the birth of our Savior through music!

SWMCH Theme

Leaders for Life chose Stand Amazed as the school theme this year. The group was considering several options with a main focus on Psalm 8. In this verse, David praises God for his creation and provides an example for us to live by. The weekly chapels include giving God gratitude for all his blessings. We cannot solely be awestruck, but also we should act upon our amazement. To achieve this, the students have been creating visual reminders that hang up in the hall to help us think about the Lord’s consideration of us in creation. All creation points back to humans, the crown of creation, and the Lord should be glorified through everything. A goal of the students is learning to take care of creation and others.

Retreat

This year for our retreat, the whole school and staff went to Ihlen State Park. We participated in many activities including a photo contest, counselor hunt (good counselor/bad counselor), and a contest on weird talents. Leaders for Life asked Pastor Jennings Wallace to come and give a short sermon followed by singing a few praise and worship songs. After we ate lunch and played a game, Mr. Busker gathered everyone together and told us that since there was a storm the night before, several silage piles had been wrecked, and the farmers needed help. We then split into two groups. The soccer team went to one pile, and the rest of the school went to another. The silage piles took the place of tug of war. A few weeks later, the whole school went over to the city park where we did tug of war in the sand volleyball courts. Of course, we had a competition, and Mrs. Feikema’s living group pulled out a win after the other team cheated. Next, we had a class competition, and the seniors easily beat all the other classes.

Sleep in a Box

Sleep in a box is exactly how it sounds, but it isn’t required for all students. Students who chose to participate had to make some type of box big enough to sleep in. The boxes were placed behind the school on the soccer field. The students were only allowed to go inside if they needed to use the bathroom. Of course, the night of sleep in a box, there was a frost advisory. You could assume how chilly it was! Due to lack of planning, chaperones, and COVID, we didn’t get the opportunity to have sleep in a box since 2018. A few of the seniors had asked Busker and planned it this year. Some students chose to actually sleep in their box for a few hours, but a few chose to stay up the whole night sitting by the fire. In the morning, Becky made caramel rolls for everyone, our boxes were flattened, and then we all went home. This activity shows us how thankful we should be for having a warm, heated home. Some are not as fortunate as us. We should never take advantage of these blessings and realize how blessed we are that God takes care of us.

Senior Class Trip to Washington, D.C.

The seniors just got back from their trip to the capital. We started our trip at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. We packed in a bus with all of our luggage and took off to the Omaha airport. The flight to D.C. was smooth, and it was fun to see some of our classmates be so excited about their first time in an airplane. Once we left the airport, we checked into our hotel, and got right back on a bus for a tour of the monuments. The rest of the week was filled with lots of walking, and lots of memories. We visited a few museums such as the Museum of the Bible, the Holocaust Museum, and the Air and Space Museum. We also saw some important political buildings such as the Capitol Building, Supreme Court Building, National Archives, and the White House.

A highlight of the trip was meeting our district representative, Michelle Fischbach. We enjoyed talking to her, and learning a bit about the day-to-day life of a representative. We also went to Mount Vernon, President Washington’s estate. We ended the week at the Arlington Cemetery, where we saw the tombs of former presidents Henry Taft and John F. Kennedy. We also saw the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We then checked out of our hotel, and made our way to the airport. We had a safe flight back to Omaha, and a nice long bus ride back home.