CHS Blog

Art is personal. It showcases skills and communicates an idea. Students will never be asked to display a test, but an art project will always be on display for others to see. This can be daunting for some, even students in Honors Art. To eliminate the paralyzing fear of imperfection, students are encouraged to adopt the mindset of process over product.

On the first day of class, I showed the students a photo of an artwork and asked them what they thought of it. Most students' initial reactions were what I expected them to be– not impressed. After I shared the story behind the artwork the students' opinions changed. The lesson was: Not everything you create in your lifetime will be wall-worthy, but that doesn’t mean the time you spent creating those things was meaningless. Students were excited to handle the original artwork, a Pablo Picasso, during our time with the traveling collection of Christian Thomas Lee.

Students often assume that they need to be a talented artist to enroll in Honors Art. While Honors Art does require some foundational skills, students have quickly learned that engagement is the key to success, not innate talent.

The Honors Art curriculum encourages students to build on and combine foundational skills learned in their introductory courses. Students are given significant creative freedom and are asked to wrestle with thought-provoking prompts. This year’s students are being asked questions like “How can I visually communicate parts of my identity?” and “If Jesus were here today who might he be hanging out with and what might he be doing?”. These are difficult questions to answer on a canvas, but CHS students do one thing exceptionally well in my classes: encourage.

I like to believe “all together now” is a phrase that captures the spirit of the art room. Brainstorming, praising, suggesting, and questioning are ongoing during class. Students are challenged to critique (and receive critique) each other's projects in a kind and respectful manner– a skill every adult needs in the working world. During our first critique of the year (an altered self-portrait) I heard a few variations of my favorite phrase: “This turned out better than I thought it would” and “This was not as scary as I thought it would be”, enforcing my belief that by adopting the mindset of process over product, the product will ultimately be more successful because of the work it took to get there.

Honors Art students will display their work in a special exhibit at this year’s K-12 art show. It is my hope that the intentionality of each student’s work will be evident to the public. Everything done in the art room is for the glory of God and is a reflection of our innate desire to create, given by and inspired by God’s love for creation.
 

Mrs. Olivia Olson is the upper school art teacher at CHS. She earned her BFA in Studio Art from Asbury University. She has been teaching at CHS since 2020 and is a CHS alum. Her favorite part of her position is the privilege of getting to know and witnessing growth in her students throughout their entire middle and high school careers.

“Sometimes we need to go old school,” was the comment that simultaneously made me smile and reminded me of Home Economics back in the day. My nostalgia came during an 11th grade Bible class. At Christian Heritage, our 11th graders take Bible class the first Semester and Life Calling the second. At the end of the Bible semester, we prepare them for what is ahead; college prep and home ec.  

The second semester begins with our academic counselor coming into the classroom and working through the Fuller Youth Institute curriculum by addressing the issues of identity, belonging, and purpose. Students then complete the YouScience aptitude test to identify their strengths and skills, and what direction that points to after graduation. This includes resumes, interviewing skills, as well as the college application process for our students who want to pursue college after graduation. 

Though the first half of the semester is classroom-heavy, the second half is very hands-on. Juniors brainstorm what they feel unprepared to handle after high school, and this list becomes the practical, interactive lessons we do together as a class.  

Students have gone on mini field trips and gotten dirty learning from Mr. Simon how to change a tire and the oil of a car, or how to bake a treat from Mrs. Stempien. These topics often take place outside of the classroom and also include things such as: how to sew a pillow or hem pants, what is a checking account and how I use it, how to cook a healthy meal without Ramen, or why would I separate my darks from my whites in the wash.  

What makes Life Calling such a unique class is this combination of all of the above.  Preparing juniors in a very holistic way for the future. At CHS we believe we all have a calling on our lives, and we are invited to discover together what God is calling our juniors to next.

Mrs. Jennie Higenyi is our Upper School Bible Department Head.  She received a Bachelors of Psychology and Pastoral Ministry from Nyack College, and a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Preaching from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.  Jennie has worked as both an Associate Pastor and a Preaching Pastor, and began her teaching career as a Professor of Pastoral Ministry.  She has lived as a Missionary both in Italy and in Africa. This is her fourteenth year working at CHS, and she teaches 7th, 8th, and 11th grade Bible, and 12th grade Syracuse University Presentational Speaking. 

This past summer, a cohort of rising juniors and seniors set off to internships across the state as part of our summer internship program, “Summer Seminar”. This unique opportunity allowed students to gain valuable skills and experience through hands-on learning and career exploration. Accumulating over forty on-site experience hours, students worked alongside professionals in various fields while earning 0.5 credits toward their academic portfolio.

Summer internships provide numerous benefits, such as the opportunity to develop essential skills, expand networks, and gain firsthand knowledge of potential career paths. But we believe that, at Christian Heritage School, our students pursue career curiosity not just for these benefits but because they are responding to God’s call on their lives. They are testing, wrestling, and pressing into what our loving Father could call them to next.

To receive credit for Summer Seminar, students had to complete several assignments, the last of which was a reflection paper. Our students served and learned in science labs, hospitals, veterinary clinics, robotic engineering design labs, and educational settings (to name a few!). It is clear from their feedback that they made the most of the opportunity presented to them:

"The “mouse room” unexpectedly became an experience that bridged my personal values with my professional aspirations. It allowed me to develop the critical skills for dealing with these animals while simultaneously giving me a newfound appreciation for the lab rat."

"I was so used to being in school and having strict instructions that when I had a lot of freedom with my work, it was a challenge to do a good job. This project not only taught me marketing skills, but it also taught me perseverance and how to do a good job with lots of freedom."

"I was really grateful for this experience in a healthcare environment. I was able to gain first-hand exposure to this field where I otherwise would not have been able to. I was also able to network and connect with physicians and other employers to build valuable relationships. Lastly, I was fortunate enough to learn new skills such as learning how to work with others on a team and interacting with patients."

"This experience, though small, has contributed to my personal and professional growth in that it has given me more confidence to help struggling children by teaching them what I know in a way that is hopefully clear to understand. My success in teaching the little girl has also given me the motivation to pursue more knowledge and methods to be able to teach children more effectively. My goal is to find more methods and resources that will help me in my endeavor of teaching and explaining educational concepts. "

"In essence, this internship made my life more clear to me. It brought me so much clarity on what I want and what I don't want for my future, and I am very thankful for it. This experience contributed both to my personal and professional growth because it taught me so many things I did not know before and that could be useful for the future, like entrepreneurship and marketing. But it also gave me an idea of what I want my career to look like. Now that I know what I want and where I want to go, I can focus on everything I need to do to get there."

Summer Seminar is just one way we offer resources to our students as they face the big question of, “Now What!?”

One reassurance we give our students is that this is not something they need to figure out alone. We partner with them and their families, and we are privileged to have outstanding professionals in the CHS community share their wisdom and expertise with our students. This past summer, Mrs. Evelyn Hayes, Mr. Trevor Delmore, and Mr. Bruce Stempien presented to our Summer Seminar cohort over lunch meetings, and various professionals from our community attended our one-semester course, Life Calling to offer their guidance to our juniors.

In his lecture series Teaching for Tomorrow Today (1984), Nicholas Wolterstorff argues that “the Christian way of being in the world is a life of responsible, worshipful, and appreciative gratitude.” As our students walk through high school, our College and Career Program guides students through an intentional journey of discovering who God has created them to be and responding to it with praise and thanksgiving.

What a gift it is to see our students (some of whom have been with us since kindergarten!) continue to grow into the young men and women God has made them to be. Our prayer is that their ultimate vocation will be lived out as an act of gratitude and praise to the One who made them.

Beth Maree is our Upper School Academic and College Counselor.  Beth Maree received a Bachelors of Education at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She majored in English, History and Special Education. She began her career teaching 4th Grade and then discovered her love for teenagers when she transitioned to High School English teacher. Mrs. Maree is also experienced in school leadership, leading an English Department, overseeing Student Academic Services, and finally serving on the Senior Leadership Team of a busy, all-girls school in South Africa. She is now the Academic and College Counselor at Christian Heritage School and loving every minute of it!   
 

The digital age has revolutionized the way we work and access information in many positive ways. It has also revolutionized entertainment and how we spend our free time. With the click of a mouse, mousepad, or screen, a world of information and entertainment is available to us. All parents know the challenges of managing their child's appropriate use of devices, but in this blog, I would like to address the benefits of hands-on STEM electives in a world where we spend a lot (perhaps way too much) time interacting with two-dimensional screens.

Hands-on learning is a major part of all our upper school science classes at CHS, which all incorporate a lab component. However, recognizing the importance of STEM in our technological age, CHS offers Engineering Design with 3D Printing (ED3D) for high school students. Meeting twice per week, students are introduced to the engineering design process, which begins with defining a problem to solve, generating ideas and researching possible solutions, creating and building a prototype of the best solution, evaluating the prototype, and finally completing the final product.  

The class begins with an introduction to Computer-Aided Design (CAD) using Tinkercad, a solid modeling program for designing three-dimensional models. Tinkercad allows students to add three-dimensional forms to their ideas. Once student ideas are captured in Tinkercad, they can be exported for printing on CHS’s 3D printers. Once printed, student ideas can be evaluated for performance against design specifications. Often, the objects students intended to create have incorrect dimensions, feature placements, or other significant flaws. Thus, 3D printing helps our students to better understand how to transform things they see on their two-dimensional screens into the three-dimensional objects they intend to create.  

Each year, our ED3D students compete in a product fair for cash prizes, judged by our Grade 5 students. In preparation for the fair, students develop product marketing information in addition to designing and fabricating their products. Following the fair, students design and print projects of increasing complexity. Later in the class, students learn the challenges of takeoff and landing using a flight simulator. In the spring, students build, decorate, and race CO2 drag racers, which can reach speeds of 50 miles per hour. As a final design project, students, working as a team, design and fabricate rocket nose cones, which are attached to water bottle rockets for testing. Students learn about rocket altimetry and the principles of aerodynamic drag. A final project investigates the aerodynamics of flight where students build powered paper airplanes. 

But why should the high school students have all the hands-on engineering design learning and fun? That is a good question. Starting this year, CHS has created a new STEM class for all Grade 8 students. Introduction to Engineering meets once weekly and begins with an introduction to Tinkercad and 3D printing, where students fabricate projects of their own design. It continues with a brief introduction to the engineering disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, computer, software, optical, chemical, environmental, aerospace, and biomedical engineering. As with our high school class, students are introduced to the engineering design process and will participate in a product design fair in the spring. Additional projects will include building electrical devices using Snap Circuits, programming a robotic car, and building and testing CO2 drag racers with experiments to understand Newton’s Second Law of Motion (F = ma).  

Before my teaching career, I led the engineering group of a major semiconductor equipment manufacturer. As an engineer, I could not deny that creation requires a Creator. The Holy Spirit used science and engineering to lead me to God and faith in Jesus. It has been my pleasure to guide many CHS students into science, technology, and engineering careers. My love for science stems from an understanding that science reveals the greatness and majesty of our God, and I hope to pass that on to all our students. Our science classes and STEM electives at CHS are a good step in that direction.

Daniel Cote is the Science Department Chair at CHS. He teaches science, philosophy, and apologetics. He has a passion for encouraging students to consider science as a career and has been doing so at CHS since 2009. He is also a pastor and the founder of Multimedia Apologetics, an apologetics website ministry explaining and defending Christianity whose primary goal is evangelism. He greatly appreciates the opportunity to teach apologetics to CHS seniors. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bridgeport, a Master of Ministry in Apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Theology and Apologetics from Liberty University. Dan is the author of Jesus Is God and Savior: How Prophecy, Science, and History Affirm the Truth of Christianity.  

Is more always better? It depends, of course. More hot fudge and whipped cream? YES!  More traffic on the Merritt? No thanks. When it comes to learning, more is better. It just depends on what the “more” is.

Research identified various learning styles, or modalities, decades ago. You might identify as a visual learner, enjoying graphics and pictures, or you might feel you get more out of an audiobook than you do turning pages.

The truth is that we may have preferred learning methods, but science also shows that we shouldn’t learn everything in the same way. Depending on the content, we should experience all the different learning styles.

Yes, you might like learning through visualization, but is watching a soccer game more impactful than being on the field and playing? Will you get more from reading a script or from sitting in the front row listening to our performers belt out their lines? Do you get the same experience hearing about someone’s beach trip versus feeling the sand in your toes and smelling the fries from the boardwalk yourself?

Like muscles in our body, our brain needs to have all of the various modalities stretched, trained, and put to use.

At Christian Heritage School, we know and understand the importance of training the brain. Matthew 22:37 tells us we are to love the Lord with our hearts, souls, and minds. So, how do you train a brain? It's easy — with variation.

We design our elective programs to stimulate the contemplative student, the creative student, the competitive student, the engineer, and the musician. And here’s the secret- I just described one child. Our students aren’t simply right or left-brained, pigeonholed in one track or the other. In our development of the whole child, we provide opportunities to train in various modalities.

Walk our halls, and you will see a student working on 3D Engineering schematic and 2D drawing project.

Come to a sporting event, and you will see our athletes trade their uniforms in the fall for a prop and a costume in the winter.

Attend our art show and see our student's gifted eyes with their digital photography gallery and gifted ears with digital music playlists.

Listen to our students lead a class discussion on Wednesday, then lead our worship band on Thursday.

Peek into our science labs and see students testing a hypothesis, then follow those same students to Philosophy class as they discuss Heraclitus.

By the end of a school day, your student will have flexed various parts of their brain, exercised their socialization muscles, and possibly stretched past what they knew they excelled in into areas where they might feel as confident. Our job at CHS is to make sure our programming provides the well-rounded educational opportunities our students need to stimulate and grow their minds, as we have been called to do. 

This year our blog posts will be highlighting all of the various ways we do this, from community events to therapy dogs.  We will be hearing from our CHS experts on this subject in upcoming blog articles.  So stay tuned!
 

Mr. Karl Simon is beginning his 22nd year in Christian Educational Administration and his fourth year at CHS. He enjoys reading, woodworking, watching the Patriots and Red Sox, and arguing with students who think the Yankees are better. He also coaches at CHS, where he enjoys spending time with kids outside the classroom on windy sidelines and on long car rides to away games. Mr. Simon feels serving as principal of the CHS Upper School is a great privilege, and he enjoys his relationships with his colleagues, students, and families.