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NO. 7 RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL LOST CREEK, KY 41348 MAY 2008 25 CENTS

100 Years as “A Light in the Hills”

The ten graduating seniors are: sitting (l-r) Kendra Crowe, Jessi Lovins, Whitney Noble;

standing (l-r) Randall Hardin, Seth VanSkyHawk, David Poppy, Jason Napier, Colton

Terry, Joey Gross, and Dell Rose.

Baccalaureate challenges grads

The eighth grade graduates

are: front row (l-r) Vanessa

Tabor, Aungelica Downing,

Heather Neace, Desiree

Ramey; back row (l-r) Patric

Haddix, Jeremy Southwood,

Tommy Moore.

Cont. p.2 BACC.

Seniors, eighth graders, their family and friends gathered at the Drushal Memorial Church on the Riverside campus Sun-day, May 18 for the tradi-tional Baccalaureate for the graduates of 2008. As Miss. Burroughs played the piano, everyone stood as the eighth graders and senior graduates marched in. Senior Dell Rose led every-one in prayer. Then Mrs. Keck led everyone in a hymn “He Leadeth Me.” Randall Hardin then led in a

responsive reading which was called “Education.” This was followed by the eighth graders reciting scripture and singing “You’ve Got a Friend”. After the eightH graders were seated, senior Joey Gross and freshman Bethany Butters sang “How Great the Father’s Love For Us” for the gradu-ates. The senior class did a choral recitation “A Recipe for Hap-piness” and sang two choruses as their class presentation. The message for the 2008

graduates was brought by Pas-tor Mike Tabor. He spoke of God’s greeting to Gideon “Hail, Mighty Warrior,” and how God used Gideon and a small number of men to defeat the enemy. He encouraged the graduates

In a colorful tropical setting with lots of flowers and ferns to match the seniors chosen colors, three Riverside classes marched in and, in time, were pronounced graduates. The many parents, family members, friends and honored guests had numerous opportu-nities to applaud as the gradu-ates performed and received the awards they had earned. After junior Courtney Mar-shall and sophomore Justin Tapio distributed the last flowers and lit the candles, the kindergarteners and eighth graders took their front row seats. Then junior Cindy Couch escorted the seniors in as Miss Beverly Burroughs played the traditional "Pomp and Circumstance." The seniors, in their striking

purple and gold gowns, took their seats on the stage and Rev. Jim Sluss, RCS Board member, led in prayer. Spe-cial music was provided by the elementary chorus. They are directed by Mrs. Kathy Keck with the assistance this evening of Miss Marcia Thompson. John Randall Hardin, Saluta-torian, gave the official wel-come to everyone, thanked those who did all the direct-ing, and reflected some on the Class of 2008. This was fol-lowed by presentations by other senior class members Jason Cody Napier, Robert Colton Terry, David Earle Cornish Poppy, Seth Michael VanSkyhawk, Jessica Rae

Cont. p. 2 GRADUATION

Riverside Christian School graduates three classes

2 THE BEACON May 2008

to be warriors for the Lord. He said Breathitt needs these young people to help lead our community into the future. Mrs. Keck led everyone singing, “‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus.” Then Pastor Tabor prayed. After Pastor Tabor was fin-ished the 2008 seniors, fol-lowed by the 2008 eighth graders, marched out to “Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us.”

Lovins, Kendra Rhea Crowe, and Whitney Marie Noble. F i n a l l y t h e C o -Valedictorians, Dell Joseph Rose and Joseph Alan Gross, delivered their addresses. Fol-lowing that parents of seniors were called forward for pres-entations from the graduates. Next the kindergarten gradu-ates had their part in the pro-gram, reciting scripture and singing. They are Anthony Jacob Clair, Brianna Hope Cody, David Seth Miller, Lau-rie Jean Mullins, and Curtis Ray Watts. A presentation of special awards followed. High School Curriculum Area Winners were as follows: Philip Ta-bor-- Bible 9 & Boys Health, Carrie Banks--Bible 10, Eng-lish 10, Biology, & U.S. His-tory, Courtney Marshall--Bible 11, & Government/Economics, Dell Rose--Bible 12, English 12, Journalism, & Pre-Calculus, Taylor Badger--English 9, Algebra 1, ICP, & World History/Geography, Justin Tapio--Geometry, Jason Napier--Algebra 2, Jessi Lovins-- Chemistry, Video/Media 1 & Home Economics, Bethany Butters--Computers, Joseph Gross--Spanish 2, Art History/Appreciation, Walter Smi t h - -A r t 1 , L a c e y McGuinn--Girls Health, Brooke Combs--Girls PE, Ja-red Robinson--Boys PE. Junior High Curriculum Area Winners were as fol-lows: Jordan Daniels--Bible 7, Vanessa Tabor (Eighth Grade Valedictorian)--Bible 8, Grammar 8, Literature 8, Sci-ence 8, Pre-Algebra, Social Studies 8 & Girls P.E., Jam-mie Napier--Grammar 7, Lit-erature 7, Science 7, Math 7, & Social Studies 7, Kris-tian Patrick--Science 7, & Math 7, Jeremy Southwood--Boys PE. Patric Haddix was the Eighth Grade Salutatorian. Citizenship Awards went to Curtis Watts, K., Colton Smith, 1st, Vanessa Noble, 2nd, Judah Voth, 3rd, Beacher Noble, 4th, Hannah Claussen, 5th, Daniel White, 6th, Kris-tian Patrick, 7th, Bethany But-

ters, 9th, Carrie Banks, 10th, Courtney Marshall, 11th. The eighth grade Citizenship Award was presented by Clara Gabbard to Jeremy South-wood. Those recognized for being on the Principal's List all year long were Vanessa Tabor, Taylor Badger, Bethany But-ters, Carrie Banks, Justin Tapio and Dell Rose. Perfect Attendance for the Year Awards went to Anthony Clair, Laurie Mullins, Colton Smith, Kaleigh Smith, Beacher Noble, Erin Butters, Jordan Daniels, Tommy Moore, and Bethany Butters. Special Matthew 6:33 Awards went to Erin Butters, Daniel White, Vanessa Tabor and Dell Rose. Coach Keck presented plaques to the mem-bers of the cross country teams for having earned their trip to the State Meet at the close of the season. The Out-standing Athlete of the Year Awards went to Joey Gross and Bethany Butters. Whitney Marie Noble was the recipient of the Garvin Scholarship. She was also recognized for having at-tended Riverside pre-school and K-12. Association of Christian Schools Interna-tional Distinguished Student Awards went to the follow-ing: Joseph Gross, Leadership and Fine Arts, Randall Hardin, Christian Service, Jason Napier, Athletics, and Dell Rose, Academics. The final award was the Senior Citizen-ship Award which was pro-

vided by the Jackson Kiwanis Club and presented by Ed Raleigh to Joseph Gross. The eighth grade graduates were introduced and sang for their presentation. They are Aungelica Christine Downing, Patric Dacota Haddix, Wil-liam Thomas Moore, Heather Lynn Neace, Desiree Ann-Marie Ramey, Jeremy Keith Southwood, and Vanessa Lynn Tabor. This was followed by the presentation of Bibles and di-plomas to all the graduates by Administrator Ernie Roberts and Rev. Sluss. Mrs. Lois Puffer, Alumni Association President, presented the sen-iors with certificates of being new alumni. Mr. Andy Keck sang the song he had written especially for the seniors and then led everyone in singing the school song "Riverside." Mr. Roberts closed in prayer and then all the graduates filed out. Refreshments were pro-vided for everyone in the gymnasium.

A Challenge to Pray By Whitney Noble

Does prayer really have an effect on people and their every day life? I don’t think it matters whether or not you are a Christian, prayer will have an effect on you. God will still test you through other people. For example, if you are a non-Christian, but a Christian comes up to you and tells you they have been praying for you, it will make you think. Here at Riverside we are more fortunate than some schools. Because we are a private school, we are allowed to pray any-time we want to. Each morning we have a devotional over the intercom. Each person in the school hears this. There’s not a day goes by that the students here don’t get prayed for by the staff. In high school Bible class, the first 15 minutes is for praise and pray requests and devotions. I think this is a good idea. It gives the students in high school an opportunity to see how God works. I personally have had an experience with prayer. My grand-mother had cancer and had a major surgery, which was 16 hours long. I know that people were praying for her the whole time. The doctor said that people who are in surgery that long usually don’t wake up. She went through the surgery fine and has currently been cancer free for the last five years. So I know that God does answer prayer and that prayer does work. I just want to encourage the people who are reading this to pray for someone and see the change that it can make in that person’s life…..and yours.

Violet Sturgill and Rose Haddix, students at Riverside Christian School, presented a copy of Lost Creek Found: Biscuits and Gravy to Mr. Stephen Bowling, Breathitt County Librarian. The newly published paper-back book Lost Creek Found: Biscuits and Gravy is a crea-tive writing project inspired by Gurney Norman, Univer-

sity of Kentucky’s senior writer in residence during his recent visit to Riverside. Mr. Don Sturgill, English teacher, encouraged the over forty authors to write original poems. Mr. Sturgill edited the first editions and is preparing for the second edition. Copies are available for $5 each, postage included. Call 666-2359 for information.

Cont. from p. 1 BACC.

Cont. from p. 1 GRADUATION

The Kindergarten graduates are, l-r, Curtis Watts, Laurie Mullins,

David Seth Miller, Brianna Cody and Anthony Clair.

RCS students present a gift

to local public library

THE BEACON May 2008 3

Electric currents, volcanic eruptions, chemical reactions, even cat food and rock candy

played a part in the Science Fair held at Riverside. Students from grades 7-10 lined the library shelves and tables with their attractive and sometimes intriguing displays. As students were doing last minute touches on their pro-

jects, the judges arrived to observe their work and inter-view them. Later Mr. Larry Monroe, science teacher, an-nounced the results. First place honors went to freshman Philip Tabor (assisted by Daniel Smith). Freshman Taylor Badger was Second and Kayla Noble, an-other freshman, came in third. The following received Hon-orable Mention: Marilee Strong, Beretta Roberts, Jam-mie Napier, Lacey McGuinn. Meanwhile down the hall, in the elementary section, a simi-lar event was taking place.

Students in grades 1-8 had their Science Fair projects on display as well. A walk through was eye-catching on both sides. To be seen were lego towers, a float-ing egg, baking soda explo-sives, popsicle stick construc-tions and Mentos with Diet Coke, plus much more. One display even had a warning

sign “Take cover!” Again judging took place and Mr. Monroe announced the winners. In the upper ele-mentary category, Erin Butters achieved First Place honors, Violet Sturgill was Second and Hannah Claussen & Ka-leigh Smith tied for Third. In the lower elementary category, Cameron Stacy and Wesley Voth combined their work for First Place. Zach Miller and Amber Turner combined on a project for Sec-ond. Vanessa Noble and Colton Smith combined on their project for Third Place. Honorable Mention went to Zebadiah Sturgill and Sherida Marshall. Mr. Monroe expressed his great appreciation for the two judges Mr. Chris Osborne and Mr. David Fletcher, both from the Hazard district of the Ken-tucky Division of Forestry.

Riverside’s art classes, under the direction of Mrs. Barbara Gross, art teacher, held an ex-citing, fun Art Festival for all the grades to enjoy. Like me, many others at the art fair found seniors and sophomores offering activities for all the grades to take part. There was clay making, paint-ing, jewelry making, and other hands on activities. The art classes also had their skills posted for everyone to see. There were many bright, colorful drawings from the lower grades and many exqui-site photos and drawings from the higher classes. All the art work was judged from 1st place to 3rd place, also judged for Honorable Mention. There were many winners in all the categories. Even though some people may have not won 1st place, all the creations from Riverside artists looked like winners to me.

The results were as follows: Best of Show went to Dwayne Ramey for his photograph of rocks, Whitney Noble for her photo of elk, Jason Napier for his photo of a car, and to Marilee Strong for her chalk drawing. Blue ribbons were awarded to Walter Smith (2), Dwayne Ramey, Marilee Strong (2), Colton Terry (2), Jason Napier, Whitney Noble, Joey Gross, Beacher Noble, Carrie Banks (2), Wesley Voth, Vanessa Tabor, Dee Noble, and Cameron Stacy. Red ribbons were awarded

to Brandon Potter, Danielle Landrum, Jessi Lovins, David Poppy, Seth VanSkyhawk (2), Judah Voth, Rose Haddix, Kaleigh Smith, Kayla Watts, Dwayne Ramey, Marilee Strong, Brian Johnson, Jordan Daniels, Jeremy Southwood, Cody Noble, Heather Neace and Zane Watts. White ribbons were re-ceived by, Walter Smith, Kendra Crowe, Jessi Lovins, Joey Gross, Tiffany Tabor, Michael Roberts, Ethan Potter, Alexis Haddix, Seth Van Sky-hawk, Michael Fugate, Zane Watts, Tommy Moore, Myranda Saylor, Jammie Napier and Brian Johnson. Honorable Mention: Carrie Banks, Kendra Crowe, Whit-ney Noble, David Poppy, Dell Rose, Tyler Hudson, Colton

Smith, Brandon Potter, Dan-ielle Landrum, Cody Noble, Jordan Daniels, Tommy

Moore, Jammie Napier and Robbie Rios.

Students enjoy hands on Art Festival

Students display science projects

Judges

studied some

of the

Science Fair

projects.

Kaleigh

Smith

stands by.

A variety of art projects were on display in the gymnasium

Best of Show honors went to Jason Napier, Dwayne Ramey, Whit-

ney Noble and Marilee Strong.

By Brandie Spencer Beacon Staff

4 THE BEACON May 2008

Castle in the Clouds was the theme for the 2008 Junior/ Senior Banquet held recently in Lexington, Kentucky. Courtney Marshall and Laura Bailey were the only two jun-iors who were able to attend. The juniors advisors, Mr. Monroe and Mrs. VanSky-hawk, plus Barb Gross, Court-ney, and Laura arrived early at Ryan’s Steakhouse and created a beautiful setting in one of the private rooms. When the seniors, their advi-sors and guests finally arrived, they were all welcomed by Laura, junior class president. Colton Terry, senior president, gave the response, followed by Larry Monroe having prayer. After the dinner the juniors

presented the slide show of the seniors throughout their past years. This was followed by Courtney presenting the prophecy for the seniors. After the dinner the classes went to Champ’s and took part

By Courtney Marshall Beacon Staff

in roller skating, arcade and/or Laser Tag. The final activity of the night was cosmic bowling. Morning was closing in on the night so the juniors treated everyone to donuts and drinks before heading back to River-side.

By Courtney Marshall Beacon Staff

The annual Honors Day was held on May 14 to recognize Riverside’s student body for the hard work through the school year. Honors Day started with a family style meal in River-sides cafeteria. The teachers served the students. The din-ner was to show the students one reward they get for doing their best. A reception was held in the gym for the middle and high school for the students and their parents. The elemen-tary’s reception was held in the school cafeteria. The final event began at 2:00 pm in Riverside’s gym. Many honors were given, and everyone seemed very happy with their honors. Following is a list of their rewards: BOOK-IT AWARDS

Kindergarten— Anthony Clair, Laurie Mullins, Curtis Watts. 1st Grade—Sherida Marshall, Zachary Miller, Tyler Patrick, Zebadiah Sturgill, Colton Smith and Wesley Voth. 2nd Grade—Frank Claussen, Vanessa Noble and Cameron Stacey. 3rd grade—Alexis Haddix, Ka-leigh Smith, Violet Sturgill and Judah Voth. 4th Grade—Jacob Baker, Tyler Hudson and Beacher Noble.

ACCELERATED READER

10 points or less—MyRanda Saylor, Ethan Potter, Michael Roberts, Hannah Claussen, Zack Watts, Deanna Noble, Jimmy Strong, John R. Turner, Brian Johnson, Tiffany Tabor, Kayla Watts, Jacob Baker, Amanda Campbell, Tiffany Johnson, Zane Watts, Desiree Ramey, Erin But-ters, Judah Voth, Amber Turner, Cameron Stacey, Aungelica Downing. Jordan Daniels, Ka-leigh Smith. 10 to 20 points—Robby Rios, Cody Noble, Rose Haddix, Vanessa Noble, Kristian Patrick, Alexis Haddix, Zachery Miller, Jammie Napier, Patric Haddix, Frank Claussen, Joey Gross, Ty-

ler Hudson. 20 to 30 points—Tyler Patrick, Sherida Marshall, Colton Smith, Zebadiah Sturgill 30 to 40 points—Jessi Lovins, Violet Sturgill. More than 40 points—41.8 Wesley Voth, 55.1 Seth Van Skyhawk, 94.4 David Poppy, 118.6 Kendra Crowe; 189.9 Vanessa Tabor.

Most Improved Awards

1st Grade—Zachary Miller, Overall; 2nd Grade—Frank Claussen and Cameron Stacy, Overall, 3rd Grade—Rose Had-dix and Jimmy Strong, Overall; 4th Grade—Kayla Watts, Over-all. 5th Grade—Tiffany Johnson, Overall; 6th Grade—Mikhayla Saylor, Math; 7th Grade—Jordan Daniels, Bible, Deanna Noble, Grammar and Social Studies; 8th Grade—Heather Neace, Bible and Grammar; 9th Grade—Brian Baker, Geog-raphy, James Feltner, Bible and Health, Kayla Noble, English, Philip Tabor, ICP; 10th Grade—Brandon Potter, American His-tory; 11th Grade—Laura Bailey, Video 1, Cassandra Couch, Gov-ernment/Economics, Courtney Marshall, English; 12th Grade—Seth VanSkyhawk, Home Eco-nomics.

ELEMENTARY AWARDS

Kindergarten—Anthony Clair, Brianna Cody, Laurie Mullins, David Seth Miller and Curtis Watts each received a Beginning Reading and Math Award. 1st Grade—Tyler Patrick, “Take a Bow” Creativity, Ze-badiah Sturgill, “Happy Face” Positive Attitude; 2nd Grade—Amber Turner, “Happy Face” Positive Attitude. 3rd Grade—Ethan Potter, Class Participation, Michael Roberts, Helpfulness, Tiffany Tabor, Class Participation, Judah Voth, Courtesy and Cooperation, 4th Grade—Caleb Tapio, Coopera-tive Attitude.. Art Awards were presented by Mrs. Gross to all students in grades 1-8, plus the sophomores.

ELEMENTARY HONORS

1st Grade—Sherida Marshall, Penmanship, Wesley Voth, Bible; 3rd Grade—Alexis Haddix, All Areas, Rose Haddix, Science, Violet Sturgill, Science, Tiffany

Tabor, Science; 4th Grade—Jacob Baker, Sci-ence, Tyler Hudson, All Areas and Science; 5th Grade—Hannah Claussen, All Areas and Science, Zach Watts, All Areas; 6th Grade—Erin Butters, Science, Amanda Campbell, Science, Daniel White, All Areas; H IGH HONORS—1 s t Grade—Colton Smith, All Areas; 2nd Grade—Vanessa Noble, All Areas; 3rd Grade—Alexis Had-dix, Science, Kaleigh Smith, All Areas and Science, Judah Voth, Science; 4th Grade—Jacob Baker, All Areas; 6th Grade—Erin Butters, All Areas, Amanda Campbell, All Areas.

HONORABLE MENTION

ALL YEAR 87-90%—Robby Rios, Aungelica Downing, Tommy Moore, Angel Fugate, Jared Robinson, Cassandra Couch, Courtney Marshall, Ran-dall Hardin.

HONOR ROLL ALL YEAR

91-94%—Jammie Napier, Kris-tian Patrick, Brooke Combs, Lacey McGuinn, Kayla Noble, Philip Tabor, Beretta Roberts, Joseph Gross, Jason Napier.

S T U D E N T C O U N C I L

AWARDS—Joey Gross, Presi-dent, Beretta Roberts, Vice Presi-dent and Sophomore Rep., Brooke Combs, Secretary and Freshman Rep., Randall Hardin, Chaplain and Senior Rep., Court-ney Marshall, Junior Rep., Justin Tapio, Sophomore Rep., Carrie Banks, Sophomore Rep., Taylor Badger, Sophomore Rep., Beth-any Butters, Freshman Rep., Aungelica Downing and Vanessa Tabor, 8th Grade Reps., Jordan-Daniels, 7th Grade Rep.

Students honored for years hard work

Juniors host seniors

to Lexington all-nighter

The seniors posed for one of many pictures that night.

Laura and Courtney

Class advisors and helpers were, front, l-r: Wanda Noble, Virgil

Noble, John Paul Neace; back, l-r: Sue VanSkyhawk, Jill Neace,

Barbara Gross and Sally Monroe.

MUSIC AWARDS Mrs. Keck presented a musi-cal note bookmark to each of the students in her music classes. She also presented Golden Note certificates to several who had been out-standing in attendance, partici-pation and conduct. Another part of the program that day was special music provided by Philip Tabor, Car-rie Banks, Danielle Landrum, Vanessa Tabor, Marilee Strong and Brandie Spencer.

THE BEACON May 2008 5

If you could relive any part

of your high school years,

what would it be?

Kendra– Get to know my friends better sooner, instead of waiting till senior year. Joey– I don’t regret anything. Randall– I would do every-thing the same. Jessi– Do a lot more with my friends so I can have more memories of them. Jason-Come to Riverside a lot earlier than I did. Whitney– Not be so serious all the time, have a lot more fun, to have more memories. David– Basketball season. Dell—I would just take a sec-ond go! I would re-live the whole thing. Colton-I would try hard and try to get better grades. Seth– Senior trip, I would go if I had a chance.

Where do you see yourself

in 10 years.

Kendra– Running my own tire store, married with 1 or 2 children Joey –Hopefully married, with a good job, and a couple of youngin’s running around Randall– With a job and fam-ily Jessi– Married, with kids, a little dog, my own home and a good job. Jason- Having a job and house Whitney-With a good job and possibly married David– Married and having a family, hopefully a good job, but money isn’t everything. Dell– Graduated, with my or-dination, working on my book. Of course, I will have a regular job– so don’t ask! Colton– Married, with 2 kids, working as a State Trooper. Seth– Married, with a good job, raising kids

Any last goodbyes or words

you’d like to say?

Kendra-Good luck to every-body and treasure the time you have with your friends. It goes by sooo..fast Joey– I wish everybody the best of luck . Treasure your time here at high school; it sure goes by fast. Participate in everything that’s out there. Randall– Good luck. Jessi -Live your life , don’t just watch it pass you by. Jason– Do everything you can, don't look forward to leaving. Whitney– Get involved in all you can because time flies by. David– To next years ball team– Work hard and don’t ever give up. Dell– Live life to the fullest, but don’t be stupid! Colton– Do the best you can in everything; play sports, if you don’t you’ll regret it, and get along with everyone. Seth- Good luck.

What was the best thing

about your senior year? Kendra-- Senior trip, be-coming closer to my friends Joey- Senior trip, getting to know everybody, becoming closer to them. Randall— It was all good. Jessi– Senior skip day, and senior trip. Jason- Getting to know everyone better , getting looked up to. Whitney-Senior trip, getting to know the other seniors better David-Senior skip day, basketball season. Dell-Senior trip, getting to know everybody. Colton– Being with Brooke, skip day, basketball season. Seth-Senior skip day.

The teachers lined up outside the multi purpose room. The seniors came down the hall and were warmly welcomed one by one. The annual Sen-ior Reception was underway. First everyone was reminded that due to the occasion, sen-iors would be addressed as Miss or Mr. and staff would be called by their first names. Since a number of the group had just come from the Dis-trict Baseball Tourney, the refreshments were moved from last to first on the agenda. Ice cream in eatable bowls, strawberries, marsh-mallows, angel food cake dipped in a chocolate fountain, and more hit the spot with everyone. Mr. Shumaker opened the program with a devotional and then the program committee took over. After a game of completing proverbs, the group was divided into three teams and went to the gym for some fun competition.

There were five stations set up, each one offering a differ-ent challenge. Some of those were corn hole toss, miniature golf, unique balloon carrying etc. The three teams com-peted against each other for the greatest number of indi-vidual successes. Next on the list one member from each team was seated and donned with a shower

cap. Then the cap was sprayed with shaving cream. Team members were given Cheetos to throw at the shav-ing cream. The cap that col-lected the most won. One final relay race deter-mined the winning team for the evening. This evening the 3 R’s were Relaxing, Recrea-tion and Ripples of laughter.

Graduation is an oh, so seri-ous, event...quite formal. Per-haps it helps to have an event much lighter in mood earlier in the day. Release the laugh-ter. Calm the nerves. We call it Senior Chapel. Well, there were a couple serious moments. First Stu-dent Council officers Joey Gross and Beretta Roberts presented to Linda Eversole two fleece blankets made by Council members. Linda is Coordinator of Vol-unteer Services for Hospice of the Bluegrass Mountain Com-munity. The blankets will be given to children in their pedi-atric division. Then the seniors left the stage and joined the audience to view a power point presen-tation of them in earlier years,

current years, and how they might appear twenty plus years from now. Everyone enjoyed the good fun. Next junior Courtney Mar-shall read a prophecy of the Class of 2008. She and her classmates predicted the po-tential accomplishments of the seniors in ten years. Mrs. Donna Southwood sang a special song for the seniors, encouraging them to follow their dreams. Then the seniors took turns willing a variety of items to underclassmen or fellow class-mates. One example: Jason Napier willed small basket-balls to three elementary boys so they could grow up to dunk the ball like he can. The seniors pulled a surprise on Mrs. Hostetler when they

announced that they had cho-sen her to be the one that they would dedicate their year-book, the 2008 Echo, to. They presented her a framed page. Miss Burroughs announced some special awards that had not been given Honors Day. The popular “Friends Are Friends Forever” was then sung very movingly by fresh-man Bethany Butters. Student Council members came forward to present gifts to first the kindergarten gradu-ates, then the eighth grade graduates and finally beautiful pen sets were given to the sen-iors. Coach Keck played the gui-tar and sang a song that he had written especially for the Class of 2008. The chorus emphasized that “this is not the end but the beginning.”

Seniors, staff enjoy different kind of 3 R’s

Miniature golf challenged the seniors and staff.

Seniors faced with past, present and future…

Seniors star in their final chapel service

6 THE BEACON May 2008

Teacher/Staff Appreciation week at Riverside was the week of April 28-May 3. Throughout the week the staff received little gift tokens handed out by Student Coun-cil members. On Wednesday the teachers were encouraged to use a stu-dent in each class to be their substitute teacher for that day. Probably the highlight of the week was Thursday’s chapel. Joey Gross, Council presi-dent, led the program. All Council members took part. Carrie Banks read “A Teacher’s Prayer.” Colton Smith, 1st grader, paid a trib-ute to his teacher, Miss Camp-

bell, reading “The Teacher Gets A+.” Courtney Marshall and Taylor Badger also read tributes to teachers.

Then some fun was injected when Council members took turns reading “special events” from the lives of the teachers

and staff. The students tried to guess who they were. For example, “I performed on stage with Ricky Skaggs.” The answer? Mrs. Bea Rob-erts. (He was on stage for special recognition at her col-lege graduation.) Randall Hardin, Council chaplain, gave a devotional talk and Vanessa Tabor and Bethany Butters had two more tributes to teachers. In closing, each faculty and staff member came down front to receive a gift, and to join in singing for the students. The traditional Teacher/Staff Appreciation Dinner was held at Ponderosa in Hazard. The Student Council, along with the rest of the student body helped our staff to feel appreciated and loved.

Five Riverside students took part in a recent Student Recital held at the Drushal Memorial Brethren Church. Those five students have been taking lessons this past school year from Richard and Beth Ann Bowers. The Bowers have been coming one day a week from their home in Knott County to of-fer music lessons to interested students. First on the program Colton Smith played “Bells of Great Britain” and “Rejoice in the

Lord Always” on the piano. Judah Voth followed with a piano solo “Whisper a Prayer.” John Raymond Tincher played “Hound Dog” on the guitar. Kaleigh Smith played two numbers on the piano “God is So Good” and “The B-I-B-L-E.” Hannah Claussen also played a piano solo “Jesus Loves Me.” The Bowers’ daughter Claire also took part in the recital, playing the piano.

A newly published author, Patti Collins, paid a visit to the elementary classes. A life long resident of Haz-ard, Mrs. Collins enjoys tak-ing Bible stories and re-telling

them in verse. A book, now in print, containing many of her poems is Biblical Family Time Rhymes. She shared how she “always loved to write,” and

how her husband George, a minister, encouraged her to have her poems published. Mrs. Collins read several of her poems to the students. They were poems about Jo-nah, David, Noah, Hannah, Samson, and Jesus. Then she read to them a short story she wrote “What a Fish!” The students greatly enjoyed the story of a young boy going on his first fishing trip with his dad. Mrs. Collins presented a copy of her book to Mrs. Hostetler to be put in the li-brary. “ Her prayer is that God will always bless and inspire oth-ers by the words He guides her hand to pen.”

Not often do students jump at the chance to spend their noon free time doing class-work. But lately students have been keeping physical education teacher Becky

Baker hopping to keep up with their requests to continue class activity during their lunch break. When bicycle enthusiast Carl Padgett volunteered to

provide bicycles for Ms. Baker’s physical education classes, she had no idea the response from Riverside stu-dents would be so exuberant. Mr. Padgett collects, repairs, and reconditions bicycles he finds at Goodwill and garage sales. He then donates these bicycles to missions. He and Mike Trusty, both from Cin-cinnati, provided enough bi-cycles and helmets for grades five through eight. As more smaller bicycles become available, Ms. Baker would like to expand the bicy-cle program to the lower ele-mentary classes. She says it’s a great way to get kids exer-cising.

Cincinnati men bring

bicycles for phys ed classes

Local author reads poems to students

Students perform in recital Staff appreciate being appreciated

By Cindy Couch Beacon Staff

Pictured above are Riverside administration, faculty, staff, aides and helpers.

THE BEACON May 2008 7

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT Senior Spotlight

Full name: Wesley Dakota Noble Birth Date: 10/18/1994 Parents: Kendra Noble/ Eric Combs Sports Played/ Position: Baseball, right field, basket-ball, center Favorite Food: Hamburgers Favorite movie/ T.V. show: Need for Speed

If a movie were made about

my life this actor would play

my role: Van Diesel Favorite singer: Korn Top three songs: Coming to Your City, Ticket to Heaven CDs that are controlling my

stereo right now: Korn Hobbies: Dirt bike racing, baseball, basketball Something not too many peo-

ple know about me: I like to build things Three words to describe me: Quiet, tall, strong Secret ambition: Race dirt bikes

Something I absolutely can’t

live without: TV

Favorite book or magazine: Dirt Bike

This month’s Senior Spot-light goes to… Robert Colton Terry, best known as Colton. Colton is the son of Cathy Crowe, and the grandson of Robert and Ellis Terry. Colton has three siblings, a sister named Morgan, and two brothers, Dylan and Drake. He has turned out to be quite a sports person as well. Colton plays for Riverside’s baseball team at the position of 3rd base, 1st base and pitcher. Colton also plays for Riverside’s varsity boy’s bas-ketball team as center. Colton’s favorite hobbies are hunting, fishing, baseball, basketball, and spending time with his girlfriend Brooke. C A lesson that Colton said he had learned through his high school years was, “Always work hard. You’ll think it doesn’t matter, but it does, and to control your temper.” When Colton was asked the question, What’s one thing you’ll never forget about Riv-

erside? Colton replied, “I’ll never forget all my friends, and teachers.” Last Colton was asked, “Who is the teacher who has given you the most motivation to succeed in life, and that you’ll never forget?” Colton replied, “Mrs. Ho, (short for Mrs. Hostetler) because she always stayed after me, until I

got it finished.” Colton had a little message for next year’s seniors… “Try hard. Enjoy it while you can, and try to get along with everyone.”

Seth Michael VanSkyhawk, 18, is the son of Dan and Sue VanSkyhawk, staff members at Riverside. Seth was born in Mason City, Iowa. He has two brothers and one sister. While in Iowa, Seth’s par-ents learned about Christian ministries in Kentucky through an Intercristo service.

With the Lord’s leading they joined the staff at Oneida Bap-tist Institute and served three years there. Then the VanSkyhawk fam-ily became a part of the River-side family and now live on the Riverside campus. During his short time here, Seth participated in varsity basketball and baseball. In his spare time Seth enjoys driving around, playing baseball, eat-ing pizza, eating at Subway. After graduation Seth is in-terested in becoming a heavy equipment operator. Reflect-ing on his time at Riverside, he said, “I will remember how close everybody is.” Although he admits to being shy in front of people himself, Seth would encourage all the young ones to “do all the ac-tivities you can get involved in.”

By Coach Dennis Jackson The Riverside Rams base-ball team lost their last three games of the season at Buck-horn and Redbird. The two games we played at Redbird were disappointed losses. The junior varsity game we lost 5-4, and the varsity game was also a one run loss, with the final score, 7-6. Jeremy Southwood pitched a very strong game going the distance and striking out 9 Redbird players. We had many opportunities to win the game, but we could not get a hit when we really needed it. All the boys played extremely well and never gave up. In the 55th District game with Breathitt County High School, our Riverside boys played very well. Breathitt had only 5 earned runs in the game. Jeremy Southwood pitched very well and Jared Robinson pitched the last two innings without allowing a run and struck out 3 batters. We only had one error in the game and had great plays by James Feltner, Jared Rob-inson, Jordan Daniels, Colton Terry and Jeremy Southwood. We had hits by James Felt-ner, Daniel Smith and Jared Robinson. The final score was Breathitt Bobcats, 11, Riverside Rams, 1. I am very proud of all the boys who played on the base-ball team this year and we are also proud of Jeremy South-wood and Jared Robinson who were selected to the 55th District All-Star Team repre-senting our Riverside Rams. With a lot of young talent coming back for next year we are very excited about the 2009 season.

Full name: Angelica Starr Fugate Birth Date: 6/30/1993 Parents: Starr and George Fugate Sports played/ position:

Softball, right field, cheerlead-ing, and cross country. Favorite Food: Chinese Favorite singer/ group: Tay-lor Swift Top 3 Songs: Bleeding Love, No Air, and Our Song. Hobbies: Softball and sleep-ing

Something not too many

people know about me: My real name

Three Words To Describe

Me: Caring, friendly, loving Secret Ambition: To be a nurse Something I absolutely

can’t live without: Computer Favorite School Subject:

Science Person in History I would

Favorite school subject: P.E

If I could relive a past event

in history this would be it:

When cars were invented Person in history I’d like to

meet: Abraham Lincoln

Person I most admire:Papaw

Something really important

to me: Family

Favorite sports team/

player: U.K’s Bradley Beat athlete I ever faced:

Ryan Hamblin If I could start Jr. High

again I would do this differ-

ently: Try to keep grades up In ten years I would like to

see myself” Racing dirt bikes, maybe married

like to meet: Adam Sandler

Person I most admire:

Heather Neace

Something really important

to me: Friends and family Best athlete I have ever

faced: Marybeth Hall

If I could start high school

over I would do this differ-

ently: Actually listen in class.

In ten years I would like to

see myself: Married and have a family.

By Brandie Spencer Beacon Staff

Coach praises

team; Robinson,

Southwood win

District honors

8 THE BEACON May 2008 Riverside Christian School -A Light in the Hills- Lost Creek, KY 41348

NON-PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

LOST CREEK, KY

“Mine is a ministry of avail-ability. When God gives you a chance, it’s nice to be able to respond.” These words came from Bill Hunter, part of a mission team of four, from the Faith Assem-bly of God Church in Lexing-ton, Virginia. Bill was joined by his wife Wendy, plus Kathy Wyant and her daughter Holly Jendrey. Kathy had been here before and, according to Wendy, “she talked about it and talked about it” and invited the others to come. “I enjoy traveling around,” said Wendy, “seeing what God is doing in different places, meeting different peo-

ple, hearing different stories.” “I love it here,” said Kathy. “I fell in love with the com-munity; I love the kids. This is a perfect opportunity to be useful for the Lord.” Kathy has also gone on three mission trips to Mexico. During her week here, Holly especially enjoyed playing softball with the kids. She also gave her testimony in chapel and was a resource per-son for five sessions in the Home Economics class. She said her desire was “to get kids to believe in themselves.” Bill led the team redecorat-ing a guest room in Wheeler Home. They painted the

room, put new flooring down, put molding back, etc. He, too, enjoys “meeting people, using the skills God has given me.” He and Wendy have helped with Young Life and Teen Challenge ministries. Kathy and Wendy assisted in a field trip with 3rd and 4th graders, teamed up with that group to help prepare the Bea-con for mailing, and did land-scaping at the grave site of Mr. Hostetler. The team also conducted a fellowship time at the Senior Citizens Center in Jackson. “So many people are fo-cused on themselves,” said Holly. “Taking a mission trip like this helps a person to combat selfishness.” “If you want to reach your potential in Christ, you need to take a mission trip,” said Wendy. “It stretches you.:”

Two familiar faces re-appeared recently on the Riv-erside campus. Harvey Hol-sopple and Bill Stevens came from Pennsylvania represent-ing two churches, the Vinco Brethren Church and the Johnstown III Brethren Church. The men hauled a trailer bringing clothing for the Riv-erside Mall. They also brought an organ that was do-nated to the Happy Grace Brethren Church in Jackson for their extensive musical

They consider themselves “errand runners from Jesus.” They are the Jar Community Church of Muncie, Indiana. Twice a year they send mis-sion teams to Mexico. After talking with Mr. Shumaker, “we saw opportunities for ser-vice in our first time to come to Appalachia,” said Pastor Chris Bunch. In just several days here, they accomplished much. In an apartment being renovated they finished flooring, put up a kitchen wall, worked on plumbing and hung kitchen cabinets. They also did landscaping,

repaired two door handles, painted restroom floors, had a craft time with kindergarten students, presented a tobacco awareness program “Tar Wars” to the elementary de-partment. Co-team leader Dr. Greg Gahl said, “My vision is to bring people from our church together, connect with God, reach out.” This they did. The team conducted two sessions of music and fellowship at the Center for the Developmen-tally Disadvantaged and Sen-ior Center in Jackson. Also a total of 54 people were served at the Health Fair

conducted by the team at the Caney Creek Mennonite Church. Jennifer Wilson, also a medical doctor, is in charge of Outward Focus, one of their church’s five values. She said, “I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, do some-thing different, use different skills.” The group included Pastor Chris Bunch, Greg Gahl, Chuck Mock, Chad Morris, Lisa Reed, Ron Reed, San Swallow, Marilyn Brooks, and Jennifer Wilson. (To learn more about this church check their website.)

ministry. The men expressed their appreciation for the help with the expenses of their trip that came from Pastor Ray Grumbling and the Johnstown III church.

They are special Indiana “errand runners”

They live availability

Virginia team included, front: Holly Jendrey and Kathy Wyant;

Back: Bill and Wendy Hunter

Front row, l-r: Chris Bunch, Lisa Reed, Greg Gahl, San Swallow;

Back row, l-r: Chad Morris, Ron Reed, Chuck Mock, Marilyn

Brooks. Missing from picture Jennifer Wilson.

Pennsylvania duo make the long haul

for Happy Church and the Riverside Mall

H. Holsopple and B. Stevens