Paideia Students Excel at FACCS Fine Arts Competition Last Friday, several of our First through Eighth Graders made a wonderful showing at the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (FACCS) Fine Arts Competition in Hudson. Congratulations to these students for displaying not only creativity and skill, but also truth, goodness, and beauty. Below is a listing of those students who received a “Superior” score and ranked first in their categories, thus receiving an invitation to the state level competition. Congratulations also go to Mrs. Lang and Mrs. Peng, whose love of art and music inspired these students, and whose skill and dedication guided them to such excellence. Art: Jehanne Caudell, Logan Guzik, Sarah Leonard, Fay Leonard, Aubrey Szwedko, Justin Craig, Rebekah Leonard, Sarah Piercey, Kerry Wilson, Mackenzie Pixley, Alex Whitehead, Ashley Allen Speech: Terryon Potter, Sean Kendrick Music: Jehanne Caudell, Olivia Cooley, Alejandro Cruz, Ethan Bosmeny, Sean Kendrick, Andrew Cabrera

Annual Rhetoric Speeches

“…the good man speaking well…”

- Quintillian

Paideia’s sophomores and juniors achieved what is very difficult in the realm of public speaking: delivering a speech with substance and style – in five minutes or less. During their three years in our Rhetoric School, students make a speech, engage in a debate, and defend a thesis – all designed to hone their skills in logical thought and elegant language. Students chose their own topics and began researching them in February. Speeches had to be five minutes in length and make reference to the Christian worldview.

“I am very pleased with how hard the students worked, and how they delivered their speeches,” Mr. Mahurin said.

SPRING PLAY GETS GOOD REVIEWS

“After watching this play tonight, I am going to tell my friends and colleagues that there is still goodness and beauty in Tampa.” So said one man who attended The Paideia Players’ performance of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

We agree. What started with a read-through in the school cafeteria ended with a moving, and sometimes hilarious, presentation. Said one teacher: “It was a college-level performance.” Shakespeare would have been pleased and proud.

Director Mark Stone remembers how the auditions produced the dilemma of five young ladies who could have played Beatrice when only one could be cast in that role; how he mistakenly called Daniella by another name in an email sent to everyone; how Mackenzie channeled her “inner big sister” to overcome her nervousness; how perfectly paired Nolan and English were as narrators; how Paul and Ashley fought through their illnesses to deliver strong performances; how Carise was “almost too good” at being a villain (which would make her a good director!); how all of the cast members took their roles to heart and made them memorable.

There were many fine moments that will live on in the minds of cast, crew, and audience: the galloping arrival of Dogberry and Verges; the clumsy romantic pose of Benedick to Beatrice; the mysterious horse’s whinny at the name of Borachio; the quick pastoral work of the friar in shielding “the kiss”; the distraught Beatrice shocking Benedick by whispering “Kill Claudio!”; the walk-like-a-man march of the watchmen and their prisoners; the fabulous dancing curtain call.

Mr. Stone summed up the feelings of the entire cast and crew when he said, “The high part of my week is working on the play. I will miss it.” Not to worry, though: with the opening of school this fall, work begins on Romeo and Juliet!

The Paideia School participated in the FACCS Brain Bowl competition in Orlando for the 3rd straight year, with unprecedented success. Ten students tested their mettle against Christian schools from all over the state.

In the middle school competition, our students did not let the fact that they were competing three against four diminish their competitive drive. We finished 1st out of six teams, scoring a total of 645 points in just five matches, which was 90 points more than its next closest competitor. This invigorating result set the stage for the high school round. Paideia’s “A” team finished the first day of competition in 1st place overall, 70 points ahead of its next closest competitor, and the “B” team finished with enough total points to secure a berth in the 12-team finalist round. Both teams continued their improbable run on Friday, finishing 2nd and 3rd overall (out of 26 teams).

Individually, Austen Stewart, Jansen Murphy, Nathan Ambrose, and Carise Cruz led the way. Austen and Jansen were the top individual scorers in the high school and middle school tournaments, respectively. Austen scored 370 points over the two days of competition, and Jansen netted over 200 points in one day of middle school competition. Nathan and Carise both finished the competition in the top 10 overall in points scored.

Once again, Paideia was one of only two schools to place more than one team in the finalist round. Our success at this year’s Brain Bowl has qualified our high school teams to compete with other similarly successful teams in national tournaments. These students have demonstrated diligence and perseverance, and they should be commended for their efforts.

2011-12 Team Rosters

Middle School team (1st place overall): Jansen Murphy, Alex Whitehead, Sean Kendrick
High School “A” team (2nd place overall): Austen Stewart, Carise Cruz, English Hinton, Nila Stone
High School “B” team (3rd place overall): Nathan Ambrose, Alissa Allen, Adrienne Lambers, Jansen Murphy

Paideia’s First New Student for 2012-13 Saige Jeffers finally applied for admission to Paideia! We say, “finally,” because this was the culmination of a 3-year process for his parents in their search for the right school for their son. Their quest began when Saige was 2 years old and it led them to Paideia. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers have attended Open House events and toured the campus, followed all the news on our website and called for information enough that when Mrs. Wilson would say, “Daphnee called today,” no further explanation was necessary. Last week, Daphnee called to make sure that open enrollment began this week and to confirm that the campus was closed on Monday. Predictably, when school began at 8:30 Tuesday morning, Daphnee walked in, application in hand. “We looked at many, many schools, and Paideia is unlike anything else out there. We’ve been looking forward to this for so long, we’re going to have a family celebration tonight at our house. We believe it is so important to give our son an education that is not just academic, but spiritually sound, too. We want Saige to be a disciple as well as a scholar.” We are happy to welcome the Jeffers family to the Paideia community – but we suspect that Daphnee is even happier!