A number of weeks ago we came across a box of archival material that was misplaced during our renovation and construction period. Much of the material comes in the form of correspondence to and from the board of the Association of Christian High Schools in British Columbia, later more realistically called Fraser Valley Christian High School Association. I keep picking up the files and reading through letters, many hand written in beautifully schooled European penmanship, and I’m humbled by the passion, the conviction, the consistent referencing of the Bible, the sense of rootedness in a tradition and history and the unflagging belief that a Christian High School was an absolute necessity and a goal that needed to be accomplished quickly. That became a reality 46 years ago as we are now bringing to a close the first chapter of Surrey Christian School as a PreK-12 school.
It was a year full of firsts for us at the secondary campus and a year of wonderful successes in academics, theatre arts, music, and athletics. For a number of years now we have been holding a senior celebration which gives our graduating class the opportunity to reflect on their formative shaping experiences and to voice their thanks and their vision of the future for themselves as they see it at this point. This is the first graduating grade 12 class of SCS, the Class of 2011, and we are thankful for their mature leadership this year and we wish them well as they venture into the next chapter of their unfolding story.
We are grateful for the work of Sandee Volkenant who has been on staff for two years, teaching Humanities, Social Studies and English. She has also been a tireless enthusiast, advocate and teacher sponsor for our Student Council. Thank you to Thomas Bergen who was able to fill our Junior Choir block for the better part of this year. Thank you to Adana Mallie, an alumnus of our school, who has worked in our LA/Special Education program for the past two years. She is continuing her studies in a Masters of Counseling Psychology program.
With Dave Loewen moving into the role of Superintendent at SCS next year and Matthew Beimers as principal of the PreK-7 program, I will be back full time in my high school principal role. I’m also looking forward to teaching a Bible 11 class. Next year Curtis Braun will be responsible for financial and all other matters of school operations. It has been a year of many changes and we are looking forward to a year of being fully engaged in unpacking our mission statement in the hallways and classrooms at our school. Mergers take time and no doubt there will still be things to deal with, but when September rolls around we will be gearing up for a great school year, another year of educating our students towards wholeness, toward servanthood, toward full life in the world that God gifts us to live within.
Dennis deGroot
Principal – Secondary Campus
