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MA presents “Encounter the Baby” at Madison Campus Church

Every year the Madison Academy family presents both church services at Madison Campus Church.  This year’s theme was “Encounter the Baby.”  There were many opportunities to serve and over 60% of the student population shared their time and talents in this presentation–both on stage and behind the scenes.  The handbell choir started the service playing “Carol of the Bells.”  The band played for the offertory and our praise teams shared their gift of music too.  Brock Anderson as a shepherd, Zachary Metzler as a Wiseman, and Mr. Chris Wilhelm as Joseph shared their perspective on reputation and what God thinks of us.  Mrs. Fuentes, the principal, added her thoughts and summarized the theme.  Mr. Pichette wrote parts for the band and handbells and they joined the praise teams in singing “Who You Say I Am.”

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Acros share Christmas

Madison Academy hosted the ladies and children from the Nashville Rescue Mission for an evening of dinner and entertainment on Sunday, December 11.  The Academy bus and vans picked up passengers outside the Rescue Mission on Sunday afternoon with the promise of good food, laughter, and the chance to see Santa.

Upon arrival at Madison Academy, our guests were escorted by students through a hallway of lights and a decorated gymnasium to their dining tables.  The gymnastics team, now functioning as smiling wait staff, appeared with sparkling juice followed by overflowing plates of salad, pasta, and bread.  The sweet treat of pie and cookies came next.

Then, when every belly was full, the cheerful high schoolers transitioned to entertainers and shared their talents as gymnasts in several routines.  The guests were invited to participate in the fun and many chose to get on the mats.  Women and children took their power pose in the air, as the Acros lifted the guests in elevators.  Following the show, Santa arrived with gifts for every guest.

“Merry Christmas” a woman exclaimed blowing a kiss to Santa as she exited the building to load the bus.  “Y’all gave me Christmas I didn’t think would come.  Thank you!”

Businesses and individuals willing to open their hearts to the Rescue Mission guests donated all the food and gifts for the event.  For 5 years, the management of the Rivergate Fazoli’s has gladly donated the breadsticks.  Other corporate donors include the Madison Kroger and Rivergate Target.  Our school families purchased, wrapped, and prayed over the gifts a few days prior to the event.

For more than a century, Madison Academy has made an intentional effort to provide a variety of service and ministry opportunities that both inspire and empower our students to care for others.  We desire that our students develop meaning and purpose in their faith.  Because it is right here close to home, this event imprints compassion on the lives of our students like no other.

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Students Celebrate Planksgiving

One would have thought that Madison Academy had just been visited by a slew of lumber jacks with the amount of planks that were lying around campus today. The students at Madison Academy competed in the #MAPlanksgivingChallenge to raise money to fix the Madison Academy’s gym air-circulation system. They were challenged to hold a plank, a position that resembles a high push up position or a push up if you were on your forearms, for three minutes. Nearly half of the Madison Academy students made that goal! Together, along with a number of teachers who completed the challenge too, they raised $953!

Once the three-minute mark passed there was still a large group of students and Coach Ley still holding their plank. Finally, after going over five-times the original challenge and Coach Ley dropping out at the 14-minute mark, Connor Collins, junior, won with holding a plank for 15 minutes.

You can watch the competition via Madison Academy’s Facebook page and if you want to join the fun you can give towards the Madison Academy gym air-circulation project tomorrow, November 27, at 7:01 a.m.

UPDATE:

Yesterday, Madison Academy participated in giving Tuesday for the third time. And it was our best giving Tuesday yet! We had over 160 people participate and they raised over $24,000 for our gym air circulation system project.

It was so cool to see parents, teachers, and alumni make Facebook fundraising pages to promote this cause.

Facebook and PayPal matched gifts to nonprofits up to seven million dollars on Tuesday. Matching started at 7 a.m. Central Time and was done by 8 a.m. Central Time. We hope that a significant portion of gifts made to Madison were matched, but even if they weren’t, it was a great opportunity to see how much our community loves our kids.

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Acros go to Acrofest 2018

Freshman taking a biology quiz. Learning doesn’t stop.

The Acros team traveled to Southwestern Adventist University, November 7-11, to participate in the national Acrofest 2018 and join other academies and colleges/universities teams.  The 30 member team rode the bus to Keene, Texas.  It has been five years since the team participated in a national Acrofest.  Once there they participated in clinics that helped them learn/perfect gymnastics routines.  You can access their schedule here.

Wednesday night was registration from 6-9 pm and then Praise and Worship from 9-10:30 and Worship time at 10:30-11:00.  Breakfast the next day was between 7 – 8 am.  Worship and Warm-ups began at 8 am.  Then there were rotations all day with lunch in the middle of that.  Madison Academy was assigned to Group D along with Midland Academy and

Antillean University.  After supper there was a Showcase Performance followed by Handstand/Butterfly/Etc. Competition.  Coach Ley shared the results on his Facebook page: ” 2nd and 3rd in the handstand contest (Ian and Jake), 2nd in the back tuck contest (Jake), 2nd and 3rd in the butterfly contests (Jake, Sara, Marlana and Rosie).”  There was free time till worship then lights out at 11pm.

Friday was more practice in the morning however teams performed at local schools in the afternoon.  Madison Academy was part of the program at Keene Public Elementary along with Union College, Sunnydale Academy, Georgia-Cumberland Academy and Peterson’s.  Participants were able to relax at vespers and afterglow and then lights out again at 11 pm.

On the final day the team went to church that featured Pastor Michael Gibson. At sundown the teams again came together to worship, lead by Pastor Russ Laughlin, before the evenings performance.

The culmination of all that hard work was shown at the Saturday night performances from many of the academy’s gymnastic teams and Southwestern Adventist Gymnastics.  Madison Academy Acros were placed three spots before the Southwestern Adventist Gym Team finale.  Here is a link for the entire show.  The Madison Academy Acros part is here.

If you would like to support the Acros team, businesses can purchase banners with their names/logos or be placed on the back of the team’s t-shirts for this year.  Contact Coach Ley if you are interested is supporting this organization.

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Senior Capstone Class Welcomes Special Guests

Mr. Abner Fuentes, a Project Manager,(and Austin’s dad), shared his expertise and experience with first impressions, hardy handshakes, eye contact, and elevator pitches. The seniors then practiced their “elevator ride” while engaging in conversation with Mr. Fuentes (pictured with William Buzby). Following encouraging applause for student, the class gave honest, helpful critique. We are blessed to have a safe environment for students to learn and rehearse the “soft skills” that will make them successful in college and career.

Dr. William O.T. Smith, a retired anesthesiologist and avid support of Adventist education, shared his life story and the hardest thing he ever had to do: find and keep a relationship with God. His remarkable journey was riddle with heartache and joy, poor decisions and saving grace, near death and God’s intervention. One senior described the class period this way: “He is an entertaining storyteller, but when you combine that with the inspiring account of how God found him… well it’s no wonder we were captivated.”

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Drama team performs at Oakwood University

The drama team from Madison Academy drove to Oakwood University and performed twice during the Fall Classic Festival 2018.  Their first performance was during the main worship service for the children’s story.  The skit they performed was called No Thanks.  The team members acted out what might have happened if Bible characters had said no to God.  After church and lunch the team again performed at the 4 pm program.  Three skits were showcased: the emoji skit – about sadness; “why did I get married”-about relationships; and “Just the way you are” – about God’s grace.  It was a good experience for the drama team and they got lots of good feedback for their performances.

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Acros promote health lifestyle

On Monday, the Acros performed during the Long Hollow Baptist Church program for 6th graders in Sumner County that promotes healthy lifestyles and making good choices.  This is the third year the team was invited to participate. During their rotation our 30-person Acros team gives a performance and shares anti-drug skits with the audience.  The audience is then asked to participate and given drunk googles.  They are asked to do some simple activities made harder because of the googles.  The Acros team believes that with a healthy lifestyle more can can be accomplished.

After finishing at Long Hollow Baptist Church the Acros team went to Ridgetop Adventist Elementary school and performed for a second time.  There was time for

some clinic work — where members of the Acros team help develop the gymnastics skills of the students.

 

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Appalachia Outreach 2018

This year we have 46 MA students heading out to Manchester, KY to serve the community.  Add in the staff, parents, a group from Highland Academy and one student from Spring Valley Academy and we will have over 80 ready to make a difference in Manchester!  We will be staying in a local community center with 4 showers and nothing to lay down on but the floor in which we walk on.  However, that is all part of the mission experience!  Students and adults will be well fed as we have a top notch chef from Georgia making some gourmet meals.  Volunteers will be building an addition on to a house, building a playground, gutting and renovating another and hanging drywall in another home, among other things.  Each team of about 15 participants, will have two days to complete their tasks and give the homes/schoolyard a fresh makeover.   We will end the trip with Sabbath, and after the hard work, a day of rest and worship will be a welcome relief.

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History Tour 2018