Praising God:
Six Honored at Maranatha’s
2nd Graduation Ceremony
Six students were honered at Maranatha’s
second annual graduation ceremony on Friday, May 22nd, at
Heartland Baptist Church in Ames. The ceremony was well
attended by friends and relatives of the graduates.
Graduating from the eighth grade and moving into high
school are Matt Bruce, Caroline Held, Timothy Loe, and
Irene Nickerson. Completing their high school education and
heading for college are Ian Nichols and Amber Anderson.
Nichols graduated from Maranatha Christian Academy and
Anderson from Abeka Homeschool Program. In addition to
doing her homeschool curriculum, Anderson has been a
teaching assistant at Maranatha this year in the elementary
grades department.
Teacher Joel Newman opened the ceremony with prayer and was
followed by a congregational hymn, To God Be the Glory.
After the hymn there was a presentation of awards for
students participating in spring sports. Senior Ian Nichols
and eighth graders Timothy Loe and Matt Bruce were
presented with ribbons which they won competing for
Maranatha in the Cono Relays in mid-May. All also received
a winged foot pin to go on their school letters. The Cono
Relays marked the beginning of Maranatha’s track program
which will be expanded next season. Nichols, Loe, and Bruce
all placed second, third, or fourth in every event they
competed in. The Cono Relays is an annual event which this
year drew six schools from eastern Iowa and Missouri.
Slideshows were presented for each of the graduates with
photos from birth to the present. Maranatha students then
performed a special music number and a slideshow
celebrating the entire 2008-2009 school year was shown.
Ian Nichols was the class valedictorian and spoke about his
journey from his birth in Korea to the present. Nichols’
address was followed by a commencement address by Pastor
Randy Abell who spoke from the book of Philippians about
the different between knowledge and wisdom.
Following the ceremony there was a reception in the
fellowship hall of the church and Amber Anderson and Ian
Nichols also had graduation open houses for friends. Amber
Anderson will be attending Pensacola Christian College this
fall and Ian Nichols will be attending Iowa State
University.
Honored at Maranatha’s second
graduation ceremony were Timothy Loe, Matt Bruce, Senior
Ian Nichols, Senior Amber Anderson, Irene Nickerson, and
Caroline Held.
A highlight video of the 2008-2009 school year has been
posted on youtube.com at:
Maranatha
Christian Academy, Ames, Iowa