Until we meet again...

This blog will be dormant until the 2013-14 school year. (Unless Mr. Zockoll feels really creative and has excess energy to utilize!)

Service

Teacher help, or service as most people refer to it as, is an experience that seventh through twelfth graders here at Faith Baptist get to experience. Service can range from grading papers, sorting papers, helping with projects, watching over the class when the teacher steps out, or just simply cleaning. Doesn’t sound that interesting does it? Well, it’s not. Or at least, not that part of service. The real joy of service comes from talking to the children.

Each child is so unique in every single way. From their personalities to their looks, none are the same. Unless, of course, your names happen to be Brad and Chad Ness. Their personalities may be different, but they’re identical twins whom I still can’t tell the difference between. I have service with the first and second graders each Wednesday afternoon, and each week is a new adventure. I only spend fifty minutes with all of them one time a week, and I wish it were more. Yes, I have to grade and sort papers. Yes, I have to clean. Spending time with the children honestly makes it worth while though. Don’t get me wrong, I have a younger sibling, and I know how hard younger children can be to handle sometimes, but it all becomes worth it at the end of the day.

I receive new stories each time I enter that classroom, along with commentary about their daily activities. It’s great. As a senior this year, I truly believe that service is going to be one of the main things I miss about high school. Even if you don’t want to go into any sort of child education or care, as is the case with myself, it’s still a great experience for not only high school students but anyone!

Written by Jourdan Diskin, Edited by Mr. Zockoll

A Unique Ministry!

Faith Baptist School possesses a very unique ministry brought about by the love of serving our God with our talents!

The hand bell and chimes choirs were started not only to teach students music theory and how to play musical instrument, but also to love and serve their God. They are used as a ministry to others, especially to the unsaved. Also, God loves musical instruments played for Him and to bring glory to Him, and bells and chimes give students at FBS that opportunity.

Around 1994, Mr. Jochum, a former FBS administrator and secondary science and French teacher, borrowed a set of bells from a nearby church and started Faith Baptist School's first hand bell choir. Soon after a family attending Faith Baptist Church made a generous donation of four hand bell octaves and three chimes octaves. Two years later a fifth octave was added to the hand bells.

The hand bell and chime choirs have been played in several various places like nursing homes, small churches, parks, and even other countries. The chimes choir has been to several different countries including France, Mexico, and Canada on different mission trips. The hand bell choir has taken several mission trips to the New England states and Canada. The bell choir has also gone to the AACS National Competition several times.

One fond memory of the choirs is from Mexico. When they would start to play their chimes barefooted children would come running to the source of music. This reminded the choir of the tale of the Pied Piper.

One of the many rewards for playing in the hand bells and chimes choirs is the knowledge that they are spreading joy and most importantly the Gospel to others. Probably the most rewarding place for the two choirs to play is at nursing homes. The elderly people's faces always light up when they hear the beautiful music produced by the bells and chimes, and the elderly people will also sing along to amazing grace when it is played.

Playing in the hand bells or chimes choir is an awesome opportunity for students attending Faith Baptist School. They allow students to develop their musical abilities while blessing people with their music. Also, the choirs are an excellent witnessing tool.

In the near future, the Handbell Choir will be one of the featured performers in FBS' "An Evening of the Arts" taking place at the school on Friday, April 26th at 7:00pm! This will be a benefit concert for the FBS Fine Arts Program!

"An Evening of the Arts" by Luke Zockoll

Written by Jacelyn Case, Edited by Mr. Zockoll

Thirty Years of Stories from a Kindergarten Teacher

When Pastor Reinert announced to the young Faith Baptist Church congregation that he wanted to start a school, his idea didn't quite garner the enthusiasm he expected. True, they had only owned the building for one year. It may not have seemed logical or possible to have a school at that point to the congregation, but God obviously had laid on Pastor's heart. So Faith Baptist School began.

Mrs. Taylor, our present Kindergarten teacher, also has a way of achieving her desires no matter the obstacle, including getting Pastor Reinert to allow her to teach the kindergarten class art and music during the second half of each day. Soon she was the full time kindergarten teacher. That was over twenty five years ago!

 

 After this many years of teaching kindergarten, you can imagine that Mrs. Taylor has heard it all. And she has. But who could remember thirty years' worth of cute children's quotes? Mrs. Taylor wrote all hers down on index cards and has them sorted into two boxes she keeps in her desk. When I asked for funny stories, she immediately reverted to these two boxes. I took the liberty of writing some of these down; so enjoy some of the darndest things that kids say.

Jonathon Abbott, a current senior in our class, used to say "Look Mrs. Taylor! I'm a woodpepper!" and would proceed to bang his head repeatedly on his desk.

Pam (Reinert) Lee used to hide candy in her skirt pockets and try to eat it during naptime, and then would cry crocodile tears when she was caught.

Micah Price ran into class one day and shouted, "Mrs. Taylor! I love to go to the pumpkin patch because they have the box potties!"

Brad Esham walked in one day and announced, "My cat had kittens this morning, and I got to see the extension cords!"

Scott Zockoll burst through the door and shouted, "Mrs. Taylor! On the way to school the cop gave Mommy a war thing because she was speeding!"

One time, Mrs. Taylor was sick for an extended period of time and couldn't figure out why. That year, it was only Matthew Zockoll and Trey Parsons in the class. Suddenly, when Mrs. Taylor wasn't watching, Trey burst out and said, "Mrs. Taylor, is Matthew supposed to put the tissues back in the box after he used them?!" Sure enough, Matthew and Mrs. Taylor had been sharing the same tissues for the past few weeks.

Trey Parsons also had a smart answer for every question. When asked what a baby deer was called, he deftly answered "A toddler."

Josh Huntington, the Jolly Blonde Giant, cried so easily when he was young, but today remains a favorite of Mrs. Taylor's due to the fact that she could rest her coffee cup on his head and have it within perfect reaching distance. I'm still not sure how this feat was accomplished.

Meghan Hamilton, or little Meggy Moo, was an extremely quiet kindergartener. However, after the story of Esther, Mrs. Taylor asked who sat at the king's gate. Little Meggy Moo answered "Humpty Dumpty!"

One day after baseball at recess, Jackson van Buskirk walked into class and asked "Mrs. Taylor? What's a fallball?" Mrs. Taylor arched her eyebrow and said "A what?" Jackson replied "A fallball. When I hit the ball too hard Mr. Price yelled 'FALLBALLLLLLLL!'"

Haley Fairall was convinced that Jacob's brother was named Seesaw, and also announced to the class during playtime that "The toy taker-outter is also the toy putter-backer."

When a classmate dropped a bottle of glue, Brooke Plummer informed her that she had dropped her Elmo's.

Thomas Cropper would always get upset when people didn't put 'punchination' on the ends of their sentences.

Becky Byerly wasn't totally sure, but when asked where her home was, she replied with "Well, I think I live in America...."

One day when Brent Esham was the line leader, he turned to Mrs. Taylor and proudly announced "Look Mrs. Taylor! I opened the door wide enough so you can get through!"

Dan Gore would always get excited during lunchtime because he had dumdrops in his lunchbox.

K.J. Davis told the class about his new pet, a canine. When asked about the name, he simply replied "Dog."

Jeremy Rose once solemnly stated that "no man can serve two pastors."

Emily Leon always loved pigs because they are spoinky.

And, to bring honor to the current class, Alex Condos held up a violet crayon and asked "What's this?" Mrs. Taylor replied "A purple crayon." Alex read the crayon's paper wrapping and said "It's not a purple crayon. There's no 'a' there."

And last but not least, for the past few years, according to the kindergarten class, the hallways now have hanitizer.

Mrs. Taylor could tell you dozens more stories, but those are hers to tell. I guarantee that she would love to share them though! So if you ever need a good chuckle, head down to the kindergarten classroom. Enjoy!

Written by Madeline King, Edited by Mr. Zockoll

An Insider's View

    Sometimes a view from the inside is what needs to be heard. Follow along as one of our Juniors takes us through a change, not only of school, but of lifestyle.
    “One of the biggest changes in my life came when I transitioned from public to private school and not only a private school, a private Christian school! I began my career at Faith Baptist School in 2007 as a seventh grader. The school was strange to me because it was very small compared to Mardela, the large public school I had recently attended. The crammed hallways of Mardela will forever be etched in my memory. At FBS the people flowed smoothly between classes, and the general atmosphere was not chaotic.
    When I came to FBS most of the students were very kind. They came up and introduced themselves to me.  Interestingly, I had never previously played on a sports team, but at FBS the volleyball team accepted me and were all so nice even though I had no idea how to play. The team allowed me to learn and willingly helped me!
    The hardest part however was coming in as a new Christian and having no idea about any of the Bible stories they asked about. A lot of learning was awaiting me, so many stories and new concepts to learn about. I looked and look back on it at as a period of growth for me. Tallies and demerits were a brand new realm of discipline for me as well, one that I had no idea about. Having a uniform for gym, wearing skirts everyday, and small classes were all novel. Overall, the process took some getting used to, but at this point in my life things in the rest of my life were starting to settle down; so adjusting came a little bit easier. I am very thankful that my parents chose a Christian school for me. Studying at FBS gives me a chance grow in my spiritual life as well as my academic and social life. I am around people who love God and will encourage me when I need it. As I go throughout the school day now, I am grateful for the friendships I have made. And yes, even for the wonderful nickname of "DUSTY" that was given to me.”

Written by Destiny Ness and Edited by Mr. Zockoll

FBS Techno-style!

Technology is an important teaching tool in schools. Through technology, teachers have a much wider spectrum of resources available to teach students who may otherwise have trouble learning. Throughout Faith's history, there have been at least three influential individuals who brought new technological advancements to the school. Those three persons are Mr. Chris Van Buskirk, Pastor Tim Binkley, and Mr. Mark Zockoll.
Chris Van Buskirk began teaching in February 2000, and to the realm of Room 1, he brought some new technology. Affectionately known as "Mr. V," he was responsible for not only the whiteboard, but also the projector, costing at that time a cool $1000. Soon after resigning his post as a secondary history professor, he donated a dozen laptops for the school to use for various classes.
Almost a decade ago, Pastor Tim Binkley started teaching here at FBS. He was responsible for installing the projector and the DMX lighting into the auditorium. Currently he maintains the school's WiFi network, has a hand in the church and school's websites, and troubleshoots the various computers and networking issues the technology presents.
Mark Zockoll, though being the newest and youngest teacher here at Faith, has done a lot already to bring FBS into a more mainstream technological stance. Besides creating and regularly updating the school's first Facebook and Twitter pages, he encouraged the high school English class, as well as the rest of his classes, to safely, but effectively, start their own blogs and modeled this by the debut of this, the Falcon English blog.
Mr. Dan Hall, the Faith Baptist Church treasurer and father of Bethany Hall, a 7th grader here at FBS, should also be noted for recently donating over fifteen Dell laptops to the school. These are now being used for yearbook, classroom research, and other daily activities!
All in all, technology is important Consider this a list of the past, present, and the future of the advances of Faith Baptist School.
Written by Jonathan Abbott, Edited by Mr. Zockoll

The Highlight Reel

    Mr. Paul Jago was FBS's first Athletic Director. Though the school's athletic program did not start in 1983, by the time Merrit Price became an elementary teacher at the school in 1993, there was already a men's soccer and lady's volleyball program. 

    One of the games was playoff against Salisbury Christian School in the playoffs were the Falcons won a home game in a 2-1 shoot out. Later, in 2006, the soccer team again edged Salisbury Christian securing a trip to the PACC championship game with an overtime goal scored in the final seconds of stoppage time.
    Mr. Price took over AD in 1998 and remains the AD to this day. He was basketball ball coach for the girls' and boys' team from 2000-2009, and recalls that one of the greatest games was a win against the Holly Grove Christian Eagles in 2005 when"the game went into triple overtime and we won." He also coached the girls volleyball team for one year with Julie White (now Condos) in 2002-03. They went undefeated until late in the playoffs. In the greatest game the Lady Falcons played that year, the team came back from a 0-2 deficit to beat the Granite Baptist School Braves. 

Faith Baptist Falcons Soccer 

   1st place in the MACC Finals

    The FBS Falcons have been apart of three leagues different athletic conferences since 1993, including theMACS (Maryland Associate Christian School), PACC (Peninsula Athletics Christians Conference), and currently the MACC (Mid-Atlantic Christian Schools). This year the Falcons achieved a milestone by winning a league championship, taking first place for the first time in FBS sport's history.

Written by Jimmy DeWeerdt, Edited by Mr. Zockoll

A Short History of FBS

    Robert C. Reinert is the senior pastor at Faith Baptist Church. His ties to Faith Baptist School are from its conception in 1983. I have chosen to interview him in light of this to gain a more insightful view of how our school began.

    The schools existence came from an abundance of kids in the church needing a Biblically sound education. Something the public schools in the area just could not offer. During Faith Baptist School’s founding year there were seventeen students enrolled. Kindergarten through 6th grade were offered. The colors and mascot were the brain child of  Mr. Jago, the schools administrator.  The schools teaching staff was comprised of three teachers including my interviewee, Pastor Reinert. He taught Math and Bible and presently teaches advanced mathematics to FBS's Juniors and Seniors. Every advancing year since its beginning, Faith would add a new grade to its résumé until it reached its senior class. The school doubled its size after the first year; this was “ a big encouragement” according to Pastor Reinert. The school would later, in my mind, declare its crowning jewel “the falcon” as its mascot, the same symbol cherished by its current student body.

Written by Luke Zockoll, edited by Mark Zockoll.

On Topics

After “challenging”, a less heavy-handed word for “assigning,” my eleventh and twelfth grade English class to develop, edit and post a single blog in the upcoming week, I realized that this command would leave our recently generated class blog with nothing but a simple introductory post featuring an excited Eskimo lady as its sole covering, and being wintertime here on the shore such provision simply would not be enough. However, as those same senior high students pointed out amid their exultant shrieks of ecstasy resulting from their encounter with a formidable academic challenge, selecting a topic to write on is easier said than done.

You see the exuberant author runs the risk of exhausting his resources on too small a topic. Analogous situations have been observed among the twitterpated Junior high male who, though leaving home with fiscal certainty, having emptied his pockets on supper at five, leaves him and his lady without entertainment for the remainder of the suddenly awkward evening. Of course the conundrum exists on the opposite extreme as well. For instance, certain topics such as “The History of Religion” or “The Migration Patterns of the Bobolink”are entirely capable of swallowing the writer in a single gulp leaving behind not even a jot or tittle of individualistic style.

What is needed is a topic wholly capable of holding the attention of the author, for if the topic can hold his attention, the writer stands a very good chance of sculpting his assertions on that topic in such a way which might hold his audience’s attention on that same topic. E.g., say some Padawan would take for his material the whaling business as it stood in the nineteenth century. With such an expanse of primary source material, it would be quite possible for the writer to turn Mellville-ian and attempt to chronicle not only the history, modern adaptations, folklore and logistical formatting of a proper pursuit of a certain whale. It would be a thousand times more preferable however and much more interesting for that same author to simply chronicle the exact descriptions and reflections, from those crews who documented such, concerning the taste of whale-steak after which he would offer his own anecdotal take on the taste of the giant fish’s muscular anatomy stemming from personal experience received from a floundered cruise off the western most tip of Alaska.

          The author that finds such a topic is the author capable of saying what he needs to say without the fear of others not caring a hoot what it is he has to say. 

The Original Post!

On this blog, students will learn to write for a public audience, to extend themselves and their ideas for public criticism, and how to answer these criticisms, both positively and negatively with grace and dignity.

If done correctly, you'll wind up looking like this...

Happy blogging!