Annapolis Area Christian School

• Marching band welcomes shoppers
• Students button their lips for 'Silent Solidarity'
• AACS host to ‘huddle' of Christian athletes
• A quarterback remembers: 21-20
• Interview with an illegal immigrant
• AACS seniors retreat to Camp Wabanna
• Christmas Gala a celebration of giving

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As confetti flies during the celebration, marching band director Joanne Wenger leads her charges in a rousing version of "Anchors Aweigh."

Annapolis Area Christian School's marching band blasted out the tones of 'Anchors Aweigh' as the ribbon was cut and the confetti flew all over the East Atrium of the renovated, improved Westfield Annapolis celebrating the shopping mall's opening of a new wing on Thursday.

The band set up behind a giant curtain that shielded the atrium from the corridor of the newly added wing.

After dignitaries — including former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. — cut the ribbon and specially designed anchors descended from the ceiling of the atrium, the curtain dropped revealing the band, led by its director, Joanne Wenger, with its woodwinds and brass sections prominently in front.

The ceremony highlighted the opening of a new 240,000 square-foot wing of the mall added on the Bestgate Road side of the complex between the anchor stores of Nordstrom's and Macy's.

After playing for the opening celebration, the AACS band marched in formation from the atrium through the length of the mall addition to perform a mini-concert in the main atrium in front of Macy's.

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Along the way, the band marched directly through Lord & Taylor's and Macy's as astonished clerks and shoppers looked on in delight. The blue-uniformed band, in step with its rhythmic drumbeat, wound up and down aisles between perfumeries, jewelry cases and the women's clothing sections of the stores.

Scott DeGraffenreid, mall marketing director and coordinator of the celebration events, said it was 'exactly what I envisioned came to life; it was great.'

At the East Atrium, the band's music was followed by a demonstration of jugglers and acrobats clad in navy uniforms.

The anchors that dropped from the ceiling had been specially prepared and painted by children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts and Annapolis High School.

A shopper watching the opening ceremony said, 'It was excellent; the band had appealing outfits and played very well.'

For one day, students from 4,612 schools in 15 countries gave up their voices in protests against abortion.

On Oct. 23, students around the world protested the controversial issue by going through the day without speaking in order to call attention to those who have no voice.

An organization called 'Stand True' launched the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity in 2004, and the project has grown since.

As part of their silent protest, students wrote the word 'life' on a piece of red duct tape and wore that symbol for the day as an arm band or bracelet.

Confronted by questioners wanting to know why they were not speaking, the students handed out flyers explaining their protest.

Sam Barham, a junior at Annapolis Area Christian School, participated in the day of silence. For Sam, the hardest part was when someone caught him off guard, and he would come close to replying.

Asked why he wanted to be involved in the day of silence, Sam said, 'For the sake of solidarity. I wanted to show that I supported the movement, the idea of a day of silence to protest abortion.'

'I think a minority of the people at AACS support abortion, maybe not openly,' Sam said.

'We wanted to have our school on the list to show that we support the worldwide movement, and in that respect we are proud to be one of the schools whose name is on the list.'

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Junior Katie Lyons, a member of the varsity girls soccer team, leads a Bible study during a campus meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Every other Tuesday morning before classes begin at Annapolis Area Christian School, a group of students—most of them, but not all members of one of the school's athletic teams — gather for a unique 'huddle.'

They study the Bible and pray.

This group is participating as part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a nationwide organization that ministers to student athletes, encouraging them to worship, prayer and discussion of their Christian faith.

While primarily a Bible study, the meetings also encourage students to discuss their struggles both on and off the athletic field.

At a recent October gathering, students from six schools in Anne Arundel County gathered at Severna Park High School as the Anne Arundel County Fields of Faith. Students, teachers and coaches from the six schools joined in a time of worship, prayer and discussion.

Fields of Faith is a nationwide effort by the FCA to challenge student-athletes to read the Bible more faithfully and to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. Students who attend the FCA huddles generally discuss their learning and talking about how God wants student-athletes to live for him on and off the fields and courts.

At AACS, the group meets every other Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. in the new Herndon Kilby Athletic and Recreation Center on the Severn Run campus.

Information about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes can be found at www.fca.org.

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Michael Wayne

A quarterback remembers: 21-20

I nearly threw up before the game. Just thinking about being the starting quarterback had my stomach doing twists.

When we arrived in Baltimore, it was rainy and the fields were a mess. I stepped into a foot-deep puddle of mud, and said to myself, 'This is not going to end well.'

Wow! How wrong I was.

The game began. We received the ball, and immediately I was thrown into a scrambling fray.

On our first possession we went three and out, and I was playing pretty poorly.

Our defense was also weak; yet, we held them before they could score.

Then on our next drive, senior Joe Stelfox ran for a 70-yard touchdown, but the play was called back on a holding call. That drive ended when I threw my first interception.

I'm a rather small guy (about 5'10'), and when I dropped back into the pocket, it was hard to see over the linemen, but out of the corner of my eye I spotted junior Andrew Beall running across the middle. He looked wide open, and when I threw it, I moved, and quickly saw the Friends' safety right where Andrew was supposed to be, right where the ball was supposed to be. I never saw the guy.

It also hurt that he returned my errant pass for a touchdown, making it 7-0. Not a good start for a starting quarterback.

I got an earful from Coach Kenny Lucas, to say the least. Our first score was a play that shouldn't have happened. I dropped back into the pocket, scanned the field and saw Matt Soldano out of the corner of my eye. He looked like he had a step on his man, so I just threw it as hard as I could. But when I released the ball, I thought it was going to be another interception. Friends' cornerback was right there, but he only tipped it right into the hands of Matt who waltzed into the end zone.

At the half, we were down 13-7. We went back and forth through the third quarter, until James Hagerott intercepted a pass and put us on the opponents' 30-yard line.

We moved down near the 10, and Joe Memmil ran a perfect out route but my pass was just over his head. On the next play I dropped back to pass and found freshman Regan Edmonds in the end zone. We missed the extra point, leaving us down by 7 points, 20-13.

At about the five-minute mark, we were beginning to drive and were around our own 40 when I dropped back to pass. The defensive pressure came, and I scrambled out of the pocket, and I arched my arm back to throw. The ball was knocked out of my hands!

I thought I had fumbled, and at that moment I had almost never felt worse in my life. But the dropped ball was called a forward pass and an incompletion and we kept our drive alive.

We got down to about their 30-yard line, and again I dropped back to pass and saw Andrew over the middle, and I threw. It was a jump ball, the defender was right there with Andrew and it was basically in both of their hands, but the defender came away with it — another interception.

I thought it was the end of our game, but our defense held.

James made a key play on a third down. They punted and we began to drive again with just a few minutes remaining in the game. The ball was wet, and I threw two incomplete passes leaving us with a fourth down and just seven seconds to go. On that last play, I got a dry ball, and threw the pass to sophomore Tyler Weist in the end zone, making the score 20-19 and putting us into position to win the game if we could make the two-point conversion.

When the ball was snapped, I faked to running back James and booted left, and then I just ran as fast as I could.

I threw the ball into the air as soon as my feet crossed the goal line. When I scored everyone mobbed me, and I thought I was going to die, but it was the sweetest feeling in the world. And now I love those numbers: 21-20.

Illegal immigration seems to be on everyone's mind nowadays; everyone has an answer, or an opinion, or a relative, or a friend or a statistic.

But few of us — very few — actually know an illegal immigrant.

Every day we see them working — on our roads, in our restaurants, on our lawns. Never do we speak to them. Never has there been any real dialogue between Americans and our illegal immigrant constituency.

This is, of course, only natural.

I've always been fascinated by foreign languages. One of the results of my obsession has been a thorough knowledge of Spanish and an increasing love for Latinos — Mexicans in particular.

So I decided to start a dialogue.

I began gathering questions from friends, family and teachers for a hypothetical interview with an illegal immigrant. I asked each of them the question, 'If you could have a conversation in English with an illegal immigrant, what would you ask them?'

Thus armed, I interviewed one of my friends — a friend who just happened to have immigrated to the United States illegally five years ago. The transcript from that interview served as the basis for this article:

Question: 'What do you think about the United States — about the government, of course, but also about the country, as in the opportunities that are afforded?'

Answer: 'Ah, si, si, si. Look. This country, Samuel, is the country of the thousand wonders; it's the country that gives you everything, and also nothing. In my country, life is fairly difficult — over there, you have to work all day long to earn 80 pesos, which over here amounts to eight dollars.'

Q: 'So there are 10 pesos to a dollar?'

A: 'Exactly.'

Q: 'OK. So how much does the typical Mexican make in a year?'

A: '[Exhales] In a year... around 10,000 pesos.'

Q: 'Ten thousand pesos?' (I was surprised — it wasn't much.) 'A thousand dollars — that's nothing.'

A: 'That's the difference between here and there.'

Q: 'Here's a question from one of my friends: Does the Mexican government support illegal immigration in any way?'

A: 'The Mexican government turns a blind eye. It sees what happens, and doesn't say anything. In a way, they want to avoid stopping Mexicans from immigrating. Because, as you know, if a Mexican comes over here, he tends to send money back to his country. And, as you can imagine, that makes it easier to buy a whole bunch of things. The money that's earned in the U.S. is spent in Mexico as a boon to the economy.'

Q: 'So you think it's good for the Mexican economy, that Mexican immigrants send money back?'

A: 'Exactly.'

Q: 'All right, on to the next question. If there were one thing you could change about America or your experience here, what would it be?'

A: 'I would have documentation given to all the illegals (that are here already). If I had papers, I would love to bring the rest of my family. And I would make more Hispanic things — of course, there are Hispanic things already: Hispanic stores, Hispanic places. But I'd like to make a Hispanic church — a cathedral, a place where...'

Q: 'A church with a Spanish preacher?'

A: 'Perfecto. And a special school for Latinos — things like that. Like, I would make the Spanish language more prominent. The problem with Latinos is language.'

Q: 'Well, that raises a good question.' [Here I must pause to note that, beyond numbers and food vocabulary, my friend does not speak English.] 'Are you trying to become an American citizen — do you want to become an American citizen? And if you do, what are you doing to become one.'

A: 'The answer is very simple. Perhaps I'll answer for myself, then for Latinos (in general). For myself — it would be the greatest ... how should I say it ... it would be such a huge dream to have papers here. But the problem in this country is the language. Yes, you come over here to live a beautiful life; but without communication, there is no life. Now ... why don't Latinos speak English? The majority of Latinos come illegally and just getting here is difficult. But, the Latino — or at least the ones that choose to come — the Latino comes to work, to make money and to return to his country, end of story. It comes down to the fact that it's just not a necessity. Latinos, we get jobs that are ... how should I say ... harder, more 'rusticos', jobs that Americans, in general, almost never do. Latinos don't need to speak English to do their job. They do their job, and nothing else interests them.'

Q: Could you recount the story of your life in Mexico? What caused you to want so much to immigrate to the Untied States; what were the conditions that compelled you to immigrate?'

A: 'This is difficult. When I lived in Mexico, I lived a life — well, not such a comfortable one, but I lived well. I lived with my parents, of course, with my brothers, my grandfathers. Well, after my older brother had been here two years or so, he returned to Mexico. He always used to tell us about how wonderful America is. And I always lived with that question — what would the United States be like? What would it be like to be in New York, or in Los Angeles? And then my younger brother left for the United States, and he was detained there at the border — he was a minor, only about 16 years old. He was taken prisoner for about six months. Eventually they gave him a work permit, to be able to come here to the United States legally and when he used to talk to me he'd always say, 'Hey, come on over — it's the good life over here and he'd send money — a thousand, two thousand, five thousand pesos to my house. And I'd tell my brother, ‘Give me some time,' because I was still studying.'

Q: 'You were studying?'

A: 'Yes, I was studying, of course. I'd finished primary, then secondary, then high school. Then I entered college, to study a career. But my family comes from a lowly class, economically, and it's expensive to study in Mexico. It was just that, living in Mexico and constantly asking for more and more money to finish my studies, it hurt me.'

Q: 'So your family didn't have enough money so that you could keep studying?'

A: 'No, there was no money. And my mother is diabetic. And she's constantly going to the doctor. It's expensive, and the problem down there is that there's no Social Security, no Medicaid, no welfare. Insurance is just too expensive for the common person. So I went to work to help with that. I just wanted to make a little bit of money, then go back and finish my studies, become a professional in Mexico. My brother sent me a little bit of money for a plane ticket. But — well, I'm really afraid of flying in an airplane. So we went by truck. We left in the morning, and we arrived at the border after three days in the truck.

We came to the border, to a hotel, a cheap, ugly hotel. Compared to how we live here... You don't even want to imagine that over there, there's no such thing as hot water, cold water — normal water. We spent about three days there. Then, one day, our guide says, ‘Come on, let's go, let's go' — it was very early in the morning, that we started walking. It was a Wednesday, and we all started our desert trek.'

Q: 'Did you have water?'

A: 'Yes, we all brought four, five gallons full of water — we had a long way to walk. So it was Thursday. Friday morning, when the sun rose, we all slept because we were exhausted. So we slept on Friday, maybe eight hours. We had just walked three days, all day, all night.

Around noon the water ran out. At that point our guide said, 'Look — we have to climb up here, on the left, and in about 30 minutes, there's a watering hole, where cows and horses drink.' We all went up, and — he was right — there was a watering hole, but the water was dirty. There were animals that had died in the water and... they tend to decompose. The water was terrible. We all filled out jugs with two gallons of water, and he told us to keep walking. So we walked Saturday, all day and all night. And then at six in the morning, we came to a place, a supply depot.'

Q: 'Where?'

A: 'Somewhere near Phoenix — maybe three hours from Phoenix. It was a 'paraje' a place where you find a bunch of clothes, backpacks, canned goods, etc. We slept, maybe two hours, because we were exhausted. Then a big van arrived. Everyone started running, and we all jumped in. We rode three hours in the van; we were all fairly uncomfortable. We arrived at Phoenix, at some apartment or other. There was nice lady there, she gave us a few chores. It was just wonderful to have cold water. We were tired.

We stayed in Phoenix some four days, and then from Phoenix to where I am now. That was another trip, three days in a van.'

Q: 'Well, I have to ask you, why did immigrate illegally — why didn't you come legally?'

A: 'To do it legally — well, to begin with, to obtain a visa in Mexico, you have to own lots of property, have a lot of money, bank accounts — things like that.'

Q: 'And that's because — '

A: 'Because of the Mexican government ... if only the Mexican government were different... To obtain a Mexican visa to work legally in this country — well you don't. Because if you're going the United States with a visa, they're going to want to know how much you have here in Mexico, to ensure that you don't leave and never return. If they give you a visa so you can go off to the United States, but have nothing to return to — you have papers, you're legal: you're not coming back. The result is that if you're important in Mexico, if you have money, if you're a government official, if you're this or that — then they'll give you a green card, so you can go on vacation in the United States and spend a little money there.'

Q: 'This last question is from my Bible teacher. Do you think that your desperation, political or economic, along with the conditions in Mexico, can justify immigrating illegally? Do you think it suffices to justify it? How do you feel about having broken the laws of this country?'

A: (Thinks for awhile)

Q: 'It's a difficult question, isn't it?'

A: 'Yes — yes, very difficult because — In Mexico, it's a community. So, if one of your family members comes over here illegally, and he's depositing money — for a nice house, cars, luxuries, jewelry — things like that — he does it for the community. Because it forces him to come over illegally, neither the laws of Mexico or the United States matter to you. It's verging on greed, or envy. If I see that he has a nice job over there, I want the same. It's a form of — well, if I see that you have something, I want to have it too. That's what makes it so that you don't care if you come over illegally. It doesn't bother you.'

Q: 'Are you afraid of being deported?'

A: 'Not any more, Samuel. Not any more — I'm not afraid because, if they stop me and deport me, I'll already have worked enough. I don't have that much money in Mexico, but I have enough to live. I'm used to living like that.'

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Senior Brendan Sullivan appears to be leaping above a gazebo and a group of classmates in this photo of the senior class retreat at Camp Wabanna in Edgewater.

Given a day off from school, members of the class of 2008 at Annapolis Area Christian School gathered in mid-October at Camp Wabanna in Edgewater, bonding with each other and beginning to make many memories.

They were at the camp from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., while juniors and sophomores at the school took preliminary SAT exams, and freshmen engaged in team-building activities in the school gym.

'It was a great bonding experience and a great time to relax.' senior Alex Devore said of the time at Camp Wabanna.

When students got off the school buses, they came together in the camp chapel to hear the Rev. Gary Derechinsky, pastor of New Hope Chapel in Arnold and a Bible teacher at the Upper School, give an inspirational meditation.

Students had a small group activity and later split up for free time. During this time, many people not only spent time with established friends, but also made new ones.

'It was a good time to chill with everyone and not a certain group of people you usually hang out with. It was also a good time to rebuild relationships,' senior Hillary Thompson said.

After devouring bowls of chili for lunch, the students were given more free time to play ping pong, pool, foosball, soccer, basketball, football and to do some rock-climbing. Many seniors got into an intense game of dodgeball.

Students relaxed by the water or hung out on the grass, getting to know their fellow classmates.

Becca Fox thought, 'It was really fun, because I got to hang out with people I haven't hung out with in a long time.'

Rachel Gruzinski said, 'It was a blast! I climbed the rock wall twice. I played soccer and dodge ball. I would love to do it again!'

After free time, students got together in the chapel to listen to Mr. Derechinsky. After his talk, they took care of senior-student related administrative topics that had to be dealt with and were given more free time.

Although the majority of the senior class enjoyed the retreat, there were a few dissenters.

Michelle Eelman said, 'I hated it. It was boring. I wouldn't do it again.'

Noah Wilson echoed Michelle's sentiments. 'It was relaxing but painful because of some of the activities.'

'It was a lot different then I thought it was going to be,' senior Abbey Keppel said. 'I thought we would have to sit there a listen to a speaker for most the time. There was also a lot more bonding then I thought there was going to be.'

Most seniors would probably agree that they would love to do it again. Almost all of the senior class is looking forward to their senior trip to New York City in May before they graduate and go off to college and careers. Then they may find that the memories from bonding at Camp Wabanna become more meaningful and important.

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From left, Julie Bays, Sue Masevice, and Ashlee Finecey, staff members from the office of advancement at Annapolis Area Christian School, will help organize the school’s Christmas Gala, focusing on and honoring student service to others.

Annapolis Area Christian School views service as a chance to give something back to God and to our community after recognizing all we have been blessed with by God.

One goal of our school is to instill in students a heart to serve. This service will not only benefit our community but also ourselves in that it brings us closer to God and helps define the character and commitment within our school community.

In light of this goal, AACS has initiated a new event to honor service within the school – The Christmas Gala, a celebration of giving.

The theme for the Annapolis Area Christian School's 2007 Christmas Gala is 'Let Your Light Shine!'

The object of this wonderful event is to highlight all AACS students who serve others in the community through charitable activities and service projects. The celebration will take place Saturday, Dec. 8, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the AACS Upper School campus in our brand new Herndon Kilby Athletic Center.

WRBS radio personality, Mike Alley, will be emceeing the event. Tickets for adults are $15 and $5 for students, with sponsorship opportunities available.

AACS families and guests are encouraged to attend and support the students who are making a difference in our community.

The evening will include dinner, a program to acknowledge the honorees, and a showcase of all student service projects.

Parents and teachers are nominating the students they consider to be most involved in the community for recognition at the gala.

To qualify, a student's service must be completed during the past year, done through the school, church or independently, and should show extra effort and initiative.

Students will create displays that represent their efforts for the showcase of service projects.

As writer James M. Barrie put it: 'Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.'

In a way, the 2007 Christmas Gala demonstrates Mr. Barrie's point. As part of the event, parents, faculty and students will have the opportunity to serve by donating small items for care packages to be distributed to social agencies in the area.

We also hope to raise funds for the future outreach efforts of our school. A new outreach coordinator, Sue Masevice, has been hired to enhance existing outreach and to develop new opportunities for the school.

The potential honorees are excited about this event and hope it will inspire their fellow classmates to become more involved.

As Community Service Prefect for this year at AACS, I am enthusiastic about this event and extremely thankful for the parents who are working so hard to make it a memorable evening.

We hope to be encouraging and encouraged, remembering what Anne Frank once wrote, 'How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.'

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