Game Night: CCHS and CCS 8th Graders

This Friday, Miss Wheeler and Mr. Veenstra are hosting an after school game night here at the high school for all the high schoolers and 8th graders. From 6:30 to 10:00 there will be board games, card games and other activities in the gym. Drinks will be provided but plan on bringing a snack to share will everyone else! Come along and hang out with the future high schoolers of our school, we plan to see you there!

- Jacob Allwine

Experiential Learning 2015: Hands-On Learning Outside of School

Each year, Seniors and Juniors at Calvin Christian High complete Experiential Learning projects. An advanced version of Independent Projects, Experiential Learning focuses on getting students out into the real world, studying their topics first hand. Several such projects have been completed, or will be completed this year.

Angela Balboa, Emily Nelson, Marissa Lindsey, and Sarah Bursaw finished a project this trimester that studied the Salvation Army, specifically with regards to the struggle of being a Christian organization in a secular society. They volunteered at the local Salvation Army, and even managed to interview the director of the rehab center, Mike. Balboa stated that “We learned a lot...Our main thing was the Salvation Army does not discriminate against people. They serve all people and everything even though people on the internet claim that they do not.”

Moving on, Ian Krueger has been working for months on a project that focuses on video game development. He is now close to finishing a demo, which will be available to download for free. Ian Krueger commented that “I intended to discover through this project what really goes into making an entire video game, as well as developing other skills such as communication that will serve me my entire life.” He will be presenting his project about four weeks from now. If you have any interest in programming, animation, game design or interactive storytelling, feel free to attend.

- Ian Krueger

The High Note of Choir: CCHS Annual Instrumental Christmas Concert

Winter brings many new events such as the annual CCHS Christmas musical concert. Every year the CCHS choir and band astound everyone with their musical talents. These students are blessed to have these gifts and we are blessed to be able to enjoy them. There will be two performances: one at Northtown Mall and one at Grace Evangelical Free Church. The choir will perform at Northtown on Saturday from 1:00 - 3:00. The second performance will include the band and choir and will be held at Grace E Free church on Tuesday the 16th at 7:00. We hope to see you all there, God bless!



- Johnny Erickson

House on Mango Street at Park Square Theatre: CCHS Spanish Field Trip

On November 21st, the students of Miss Wheeler’s Spanish class went to see the play “The House on Mango Street.” The play was about Esperanza, a young girl living on Mango Street. Through the play we saw many of the monumental events in her life, including when her grandfather passed away, when she stayed after school, or when she told stories to her aunt. The play addresses the theme of “home is where the heart is” and what goes along with that saying. Most of the Spanish class walked away from the play feeling confused. There were only eight actors who all played multiple roles which made it hard to follow at times. Also the setting rapidly changed making it difficult distinguish one from another. The actors though were all talented you could follow the story by watching their faces. After leaving the theater there was a feeling of confusion, whether that was because it was thought-provoking or it was just hard to follow, remains to be said. Thanks to Miss Wheeler for making this possible!

- Gabe Modder

The Clan War Has Ended: The Clash of the Advisories - Results

Step into battle at the CCHS clash of the advisories! Early in the morning on Nov. 20, all of the advisories congregated in the gym. With different attack and defensive strategies we can all agree that the results surprised all of us. Each of the advisors set up their “town halls” or solo cups arranged in a pyramid shape. The advisories then threw giant yoga balls(giants) and dodge balls(goblins) at other advisories town halls. The victors came as a shock to most advisories; as Mr.Schaap’s advisory took the win by a default situation. Each advisory had to work together to think of strategies and tactics. This event helped us come together as an advisory and build fellowship with one another.

- Karl Ludwig

Independent Project Highlight: Ben Smith

Independent projects are a very important part of CCHS; they teach students good speaking and research skills, while learning about something they love. This year, there have been many projects presented by students, and one that stood out is Ben Smith’s project on careers. He was kind enough to talk to the Cougar’s Tale about his project.

What was your project on?

I looked at five different careers and researched a couple different question to get a more in depth look at what the jobs were like.

Why did you decide to do it?

        I decided to do it because I’m a senior this year and I’m starting to make college choices and I thought researching more about jobs would help me better decide what kind of job I wanted in the future, to get a more in depth look at them.

What was the process like?

        For each job I looked at four different questions. One is, how much would this job pay, and the next one was what is the future of this job and then what college education do you need to have to get this job. The last question was what skills do you need. Also, I interviewed someone who did that job and asked them what the best part and the worst part was about this job. I think that was really important because it helped me get an experience from someone who actually had that job and I really liked that part.

Did you know about your subject before you began the project?

        I knew that being a teacher required a lot of speaking, that most of the job needed good presentation skills and good communication skills, I knew that before about all the jobs.

What were some things that surprised you about your subject?

        Some things that surprised me were when I went on twitter I thought that you would need a high level of math skills, but I found out from the person I interviewed that you don’t need more than a high school education, and that surprised me because I always thought accountants had to know a lot about that stuff, but she said you didn’t need to know much about it.

What was your favorite part?

I think my favorite part about this job was interviewing the people, because most of my other projects were internet research, and I like interviewing people and interacting with them and asking questions about their job, because it’s something I like doing, and it was really fun seeing what their job was without internet research. It was fun getting to see what their job was actually like.

CCHS Winter Dance: Have a "Wonder"ful Time

Once again, it is almost time for the annual winter dance. The theme this year is “Alice in Wonderland.” Tickets are already on sale and people are encouraged to come to the event at the Blaine Campus. The event will start at 7 P.M. and go until 10 P.M. One ticket costs three dollars and two cost five. Feel free to come and enjoy yourself at this event planned by our very own student council. It should be a good time, just make sure that you don’t fall down a rabbit hole on the way there.

-Rick Derfus