Legacy Alumni Newsletter Fall 2015 by College Heights Christian School

COLLEGE HEIGHTS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ALUMNI & FRIENDS NEWSLETTER

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legacy

F A L L

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S H A R I NG C O M M ON R O OT S – NO U R I S H I NG G E N E R AT ION S

Brian Jennings Leads First Family Connections Event at CHCS This year, CHCS is hosting a series of Family Connections events designed to strengthen the ties between home and school. Our first event was a real treat and was led by Brian Jennings (’93). Brian’s message of encouragement was both timely and practical and dealt with the struggles Christian parents face in leading their families spiritually. Although the world will bombard our children with all kinds of temptations, distractions and worries such as technology and busyness, the good news is that “…He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecc. 3:11). In other words, we are all spiritual beings and long for a relationship and closeness with God. Brian encouraged those in attendance to take up the Biblical mandate from Deuteronomy 6 regarding God’s word and his commandments. We are to “…impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Leading your family spiritually doesn’t have to be fancy. Parents certainly don’t need to be perfect or “have it all together” to lead, they just need to do it consistently and purposefully. Thank you, Brian for blessing CHCS with your wisdom and humble spirit. If you were unable to attend, you may view the event at Brian’s book, http://thecube.com/event/chcs-family-connection-event-560033.

Lead Your Family, is available on Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and i-Tunes. He also has a blog at leadyourfamily.net.

Pictured left to right are Katie (Gariss) Marsh (’98), Mary (Stokes) Colin (’93), Brian Jennings, Tim Casey (’02) “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” –Jeremiah 17:7-8

Reconnecting with

LEWIS M. SPARLIN (‘07) When did you begin attending CHCS? I started attending College Heights in 1992 for preschool. I then attended for 15 straight years through elementary, middle school and high school. What school sports or extracurricular activities were you involved in at CHCS? I didn’t play any sports in high school – and still don’t. My saxophone pretty much made up the majority of my extracurricular involvement. I always looked forward to traveling for band competitions. I also had a great time competing in scholars bowl and math league. Who was your favorite teacher and why? I remember many of the teachers at College Heights who made an effort to be more than just instructors in the lives of us students. Todd Johnson specifically invested a lot in my life during high school both academically and personally. How would you describe yourself as a teen? As a teen I was quiet and introverted for the most part. I had a small group of friends around which I allowed myself to open up. But until I knew someone pretty well, it was difficult for me to start conversations with them. It’s actually possible I graduated with a couple people I never had one conversation with. How would your old classmates describe you? I believe my old classmates would have described me as a quiet geeky person. Probably even weird. I frequently spent my spare time in the hallways writing programs on my TI84 calculator. Tell us a little about the path your life has taken since you graduated from CHCS? After graduating from high school I went to OTC in Springfield and completed an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Information Systems. During my second year there I started an internship as a Programmer at O’Reilly Automotive which continued into a full time job. I worked at O’Reilly for a total of five years. It was just over year ago that I left O’Reilly and Springfield and moved to Kansas City where I am now. Currently I am a Software Engineer at Email DataSource where I work on their email data analytics platform. A year after graduating from OTC, I was sharing a house with some guys I knew from church. One of them had gone to Missouri Southern and frequently drove back to Joplin for Monday night football with his college buddies.

I started going with him and getting to know his friends. It was at that Monday night football get-together where I met my wife Ashley, who was also tagging along with a friend of hers. Ashley and I got married on 11/11/11. We lived in Springfield until last year when we moved to Kansas City. We had our daughter, Maggie, in January of 2013, and just last month we were blessed with our son, Brodie. We stay pretty busy taking care of two little ones and keeping our house in order. However, we also make time to be involved with our church and to study and fellowship with a small group every Tuesday night. Tell us about the work you are doing now, why is it important to you? I’m working for an email analytics company called Email DataSource. I help them build and maintain their software platform. The work is challenging and rewarding. I’ve always loved creating software, and my job allows me to do that full time. It is like solving puzzles for a living, which to me is great! This work is important to me because it allows me to exercise the skills and passions God gave me. I love to learn new things and in this field I am learning all the time. What pearls of wisdom would you give other graduates and students at CHCS? I don’t know about pearls of wisdom. I’m still learning and growing and wouldn’t say I have anything figured out completely. I’d say always surround yourself with like-minded friends who love God and will challenge you to grow. You can’t live the Jesus life as a lone wolf.

National Honor Society Inducts New Members Special Alumni Speaker â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Lindsay Judah Udell (â&#x20AC;&#x2122;00)

Lindsay (Judah) Udell

The newest members of the CHCS Chapter of National Honor Society were recently inducted. Congratulations to Hannah Belk, Nyasha Bgoni, Ben Bishop, Chloe Blaylock, Emily Brown, Daniel Estep, Emma Greathouse, Eden Laws, Peri Reagan, and Jessica Roberts. The new members of the Junior Honor Society are Kayley Ball, Grace Bishop, Evan Burton, Arianna Calandro, Shayla Cliffman, Taylor Dunham, Laryssa Everett, Luke Johnson, Zipporah Jones, Lainey Lett, Lincoln Martin, Riley Peterson, and Catie Secker.

Happy 40th Mrs. Colin! Elementary Principal MARY Stokes COLIN (’93) enjoyed an epic day on August 24th – her 40th birthday! The students tried surprising her by dressing in black, and her high school volleyball team decorated the halls. However, Mrs. Colin surprised everyone by showing up to work dressed as a granny with style! This made the day truly fun for everyone.

CATCHING UP WITH… MARCUS MOELLER (‘04) My wife, Hannah, and I have been married a little over two years and reside in downtown Oklahoma City where we attend Frontline Church. I have been coaching college basketball for the last seven years. The first three years I was an assistant to Maryann Mitts with the women’s basketball program at Missouri Southern in Joplin. The previous four years I have been on staff with the women’s basketball program at Mid America Christian University in Oklahoma City, serving as the head coach each of the last two seasons. During the two years I was blessed to be the head coach, we achieved the two most successful years in the history of the program. In June of this year, I accepted the position of Director of Athletics here at MACU. My wife, Hannah, has been the head women’s basketball coach at Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in Moore, OK the past four years. The

Hillsdale Lady Saints have won three national championships during her tenure as the head coach. Our son, Owen Lincoln Moeller, was born on September 1st. He was 7lbs, 5oz. and 19½ inches long.

LESLI (Johnson) STUMP (‘93) Our family still lives in St. Cloud, MN. Eldon, my husband of 19 years, is part time worship pastor at Hope Covenant Church in St. Cloud. He is a volunteer lay pastor with campus ministry organizations part time on the campus of St. Cloud State University mainly mentoring and discipling student leaders. He is also a computer networking technician and consultant for a company in St. Cloud called Highland Computer Solutions. I recently started back to work after 13 years at home. I am a special ed paraprofessional in the St. Cloud school district. I service a non verbal autistic child and a child with a severe EBD (emotional behavior disorder). It is a hard job but I am grateful for the opportunity to speak light and life into students who need to hear it and also to walk the halls and pray over students and teachers without them even realizing it. Eldon and I have four kids ages seven to thirteen, and we are grateful to live life and love Christ and others as we journey through life daily.

Cougar Tracks

KELSI (Bodine) & CRAIG DANIELL

KELSI BODINE (’10) married Craig Daniell on August 22nd. They are making their home in Little Rock, AR where Kelsi is the Communications Director/Executive Assistant for Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin and Craig is the Associate Recreational Minister at Geyer Springs First Baptist Church. Congratulations! A big congratulations to ANGIE CONOVER (’92) who recently was awarded the Department of Justice’s Director’s Special Recognition Award for her outstanding work with inmates in the Federal Prison in Springfield, Missouri. She was honored in Washington D.C. at a special ceremony, and she was happy to have her mother, Lynn Conover attend with her. MICHELLE GREENWOOD (’92) earned her PhD in Cognitive & Information Sciences from the University of California, Merced in July. Congratulations, Michelle!

DR. MICHELLE GREENWOOD

JONATHAN (’10) and JADETH (’12) Lieb JAMES are excited to be moved into their first home they built last summer in Duquesne. Jadeth is an assistant executive at Chick-fil-A, and Jonathan is working as a lab tech at Eagle Picher. ANGIE CONOVER with her mother, LYNN

LEA (Sorrick) MORGAN (’10) is now teaching French at Webb City High School. Congratulations to JOY (Calef) PADEN (’09) who was married to Bryce Paden on June 20th. They are making their home in Bentonville, AR where Joy is a Dental Hygienist and Bryce works for WalMart Home Office. Congratulations to CHCS’s IT Coordinator, MATT PERRY (’00) and his wife Priscilla on their new baby girl Gabrielle Ann. She was born Sunday, September 13th at 10:10 PM. She weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. LEWIS (’07) and Ashley SPARLIN welcomed Brodie Michael on September 9. Brodie weighed 6 lbs, 6 ounces. Big sister is Maggie.

JONATHAN & JADETH (Lieb) JAMES JOY (Calef) & BRYCE PADEN

BRODIE SPARLIN

LEA (Sorrick) MORGAN & family

MATT, PRISCILLA & GABRIELLE PERRY

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE 4311 E. Newman Road Joplin, Missouri 64801

SAVE THE DATE…

PAID JOPLIN, MO 64802 PERMIT NO. 26

HOMECOMING 2015

Mark your calendar for this year’s Homecoming on December 18th at Ozark Christian College. We will have a special time of reconnecting with each other, great food, and of course, basketball! We look forward to seeing many of you there!

Reach Out… Reconnect… and Remember The Legacy alumni newsletter is currently printed three to four times a year. Your input is important to help us keep everyone up to date. If you have alumni news you’d like to submit, would like to update your contact information or be added to the mailing list, contact Sonya Wilkins at 417-782-4114, ext. 236 or swilkins@collegeheights.org.