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Testimonials From a former student, Sarah.... In my time at New Heights Christian School I learned numerous lessons and values which have stayed with me many years since. While attending school, I enjoyed fellowship with my teachers as well as my peers. The environment was comfortable. I felt at home there. To this day I am confident that if I step through the doors at New Heights Christian School I will be warmly welcomed. The staff remain among my closest and longest friends. The education I received was brought forth in an intelligent and professional way. I also received knowledge of world culture that I had not yet experienced prior to attending the school, which aided me while traveling overseas for missions. I have attended home school, private school and public school and among these, New Heights Christian School stands out among them. I have given a good testimony of the school countless times. Father Flanagan said, "A true religious training for children is most essential if we are to expect to develop them into good men and good women—worthy citizens of our great country." I still remember the definition of love taught by one of the teachers in Devotions. "Love is caring for someone more than yourself." From the educational subjects, to an uncompromising relationship with Jesus Christ, and even the meaning of love, New Heights Christian School has instilled principles in me that continue in my life. ************************************************** From Jodi Kanton, parent of present student.... It was summer 2004 and I was on my knees. My 12 year old son was falling through the cracks. He had just completed an agonizing second semester of sixth grade in public school. Ever since third grade we had tried every available option. We had tried private school (which I couldn't afford), homeschooling, (which was not feasible since I was a single working mom), and finally, in desperation, back to public school.
My son is intelligent, good natured, good mannered- yet he was being swallowed alive. He felt worthless and I saw him drawing more and more into a shell. "Lord'" I prayed. "I don't know what to do. I've tried everything I know to try. I don't know what else to do for him. I put him totally into your hands. Please help him!"
A month later, through a strange series of events that the Lord had arranged, I met Susan Smith, the school administrator. We hit it off and while talking I discovered her family ran a small Christian school. I asked if they might take my son. After the school prayed about it the answer was "yes"! How God answers prayers when we give it all to Him!
So, in August, 2004 Jake began attending New Heights. He is now in his sophomore year. The boy who couldn't learn his multiplication tables is now breezing through algebra. The boy who was afraid to take risks now climbs to the tops of trees! He has learned it's okay to make mistakes- we all make mistakes. He is learning who he is. And he recently told me he wants to be a Christian therapist!
New Heights was founded on faith and is run by faith. Each student is loved unconditionally with the love of Jesus. They are loved and accepted for who they are, not what they can "do". Because of this, they excel!
Jake has been one of the "Band of Brothers" (as Mr. Smith refers to them) for four years now. These boys love and nurture each other and are the closest of friends. They are learning how to become "men of God." If a "new" boy starts school, he isn't new for long. He is "in"... no peer pressure, no proving himself, just accepted as one of the "Band".
With God's love shining through the staff, my son's life has turned around. He KNOWS he is loved by everyone at New Heights and he KNOWS God loves him! And for that, we will both be eternally grateful!
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From Kurt Wayne, father of present student Tonight, my daughter Victoria surprised me by saying she may want to become an editorial cartoonist. She told me that as we were leaving Barnes and Noble, where she'd been a bit troubled due to seeing someone from her not-so-fond-to-recall days at Washington Junior High School - which led me to ponder some significant things. When I mentioned the anniversary of Jonestown to Victoria in talking about the day's news, she said "he was a communist." And that's what really got me thinking. Because there's no doubt that many if not all of those who followed Mr. Jones to the jungle of Guyana did so because, in whatever hideous way it happened, they felt they belonged - that they were a FAMILY. And I remembered Victoria's days at Washington JHS, which was a happy place for my son but a horrible one for her. By the end of her 8th grade year she, a girl who always loved to learn, not only didn't want to attend school but didn't want to attend church. I still remember the day we first visited New Heights Christian School Victoria saying that morning "I'd like to attend a private school as long as it isn't a CHRISTIAN school". And then she met the family of our beloved Richard (not "Mr." - an in joke between he and I) Smith. And, though it was the beginning of a long process, she found where SHE belonged. And she's been acquiring wisdom about life enough to begin to recognize, among other things, what a false prophet is all about. Most importantly, she and I have talked more than once about how New Heights Christian School is a little taste on earth of what Heaven is. My son loves being at Bentonville High (student population: about 4,000) but there's no doubt in my mind that someday after he graduates there will be a time where no one will remember who he was there. In Victoria's case, however, as long as there is a NHCS, there will be the Smith family who remembers her. And welcomes her always. Tonight Victoria talked about how she's got a second "family", the one whose name is "New Heights". I can see how the desire to belong, and be loved, can lead desperate people seeking God (but totally confused on where to find Him) into the clutches of a Jim Jones. In that light on this day, I say "God bless Mr. Smith (and Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Copp and Mrs. Leiva, and the Gilges and the Waltrips)". I will never be ever to adequately thank all of you for what you've done for my daughter! Kurt J. Wayne *************************************************** |
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