Archive for the 'Community' Category

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

by Christy Swafford, Assistant Admissions Director

Cherokee Creek Boys School Christmas TreeIt is a wonderful time of year. People are putting up their Christmas Trees, Menorahs, and other fun holiday decorations. The boys have had fun putting up the Christmas Tree on campus, preparing for Hanukkah, listening to Christmas music, and doing fun holiday crafts.

We have been reminded by the boys from up north and Colorado that it cannot be Christmas until we have a foot of snow on the ground! We cannot give them the snow, but we can help them create a lot of fun new memories.

Cherokee Creek Boys Boarding SchoolAnother fun activity the boys participated in recently is the Westminster Festival of Trees. One of our awesome families decorated a Cherokee Creek Boys School Christmas Tree and submitted it into a Christmas Tree decorating contest. We are really excited to share CCBS with our community. Some of the boys went to the lighting of the tree. It is inspiring to see our families excited to share about CCBS with those around them. We always enjoy seeing whole families discovering what is real and true about themselves and the world around them.

We hope you enjoy the pictures of this beautiful Christmas tree. What values do you spot within its ornaments?

Happy Holidays from the CCBS family to yours!

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CCBS Dominates Howl-O-Ween Run

First Row: "Loki," Jackson, Holden, Carter, and John Second Row: CCBS Weekend Manager Andrew Stevenson, Tristan, Tyler, Josh and Counselor Kurt Brandon

Cherokee Creek boys showed up in force at the 3rd Annual Strut Your Mutt and Howl-O-Ween on the Green
3K Race to benefit the Humane Society of Seneca, SC this past weekend. Seven boys, two counselors and Academic Dean Denise Savidge all participated in the event which has been getting bigger and bigger every year. About 60 humans participated and CCBS Student Tristan finished first overall. Another 15 dogs ran with their owners and most popular finisher was “Dexter,” who rolled across the finish line to a round of applause and a lot of head-patting.

Dexter and his owner finish with pride

Academic Dean Denise Savidge finished her first race with the support of her students, although far behind early finishers Tristan and Carter.

posted by Judy Leslie in Community,Students and have Comment (1)

Hartwell Dam Opening Provides Thundering Lesson in Water Management

A view from the South Carolina side.

A view from the Georgia side of the dam

The record rainfall of 2013 provided a wonderful opportunity in experiential learning last week as the CCBS boys got an opportunity to watch water management in an exciting form. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Hartwell Dam was opened and excess water was released through the spillway gates. Prior to that point, the Lake Hartwell reservoir had reached maximum flood storage capacity, which fishermen and boaters have enjoyed recently since the lake has not been considered “full” since 1994. Enjoy the pictures above and click to see a YouTube video of the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrQ-lFlZfUA

posted by Judy Leslie in Community and have Comments Off on Hartwell Dam Opening Provides Thundering Lesson in Water Management

Congratulations to New “Warriors”

Josh sports new Warrior stripes

Primary Counselor Chris Peckham recognized four new Currahees who made it to  Warrior in their PATH work. He honored them with a ceremonial face painting along with hearty congratulations and whoops of cheer from the milieu.  Congratulations and continued success to Joe, Ian, Josh, and John as they work toward graduation day!

Joe gets his new Warrior paint while Ian looks on.

posted by Judy Leslie in Community,Students and have Comments Off on Congratulations to New “Warriors”

A School Divided … by Football Loyalties

Therapist Artie Smith, Academic Dean Denise Savidge, and Weekend Manager Andrew Stevenson show a staff divided .... but only when it comes to college football.

Sitting on the very western edge of South Carolina and only a stone’s throw across a river from Georgia makes Cherokee Creek Boys School a very interesting place to be during college football season. Not only are the South Carolina staff divided among University of South Carolina and Clemson loyalties, but there are also inter-conference rivals University of Georgia and Georgia Tech fans well represented among the men and women of CCBS. Now throw in the 20 or so states represented by the boys in their various t-shirts and sweatshirts and football season is, well, competitive.

This past weekend went to South Carolina as Clemson whooped up on Georgia Tech 47-31 in the ACC while University of South Carolina beat up on SEC rival University of Georgia, 35-7. Sorry Artie!

posted by Judy Leslie in Community and have Comments (2)

Congratulations Counselor Nick

Members of CCBS staff gathered Saturday to celebrate the wedding of Flex Counselor Nick Droll as he married his longtime girlfriend Anna. They were joined by recent graduate Sam who got a little “carried away” by some of his favorite staffers at the festivities. Pictured from left to right are Flex Counselors Andrew Leviner, Johnnie Sinclair, Andrew McGarvey, the groom, and Ryan McGarvey. Best wishes to Nick and Anna!

CCBS Counselors and recent graduate Sam

posted by Judy Leslie in Community and have Comments (3)

Headed to the Coast

From left: Artie, William and David are headed for the coast

The Father & Son Sea Kayaking Adventure is underway!

At about 10:00 this morning Executive Director David LePere, Counseling Department Manager William Carpenter and Therapist Artie Smith – along with students Alex, Alexander, Jake, James, Loucas, Sam, Sam, Tommy and Vincent – began their journey to the Georgia coast. Now, this is not what David, William and Artie are typically up to on a Tuesday morning. But for our first Father and Son Adventure it would be hard to find a more perfect crew!

The boys are looking forward to connecting with their dads tomorrow morning. Together, they will paddle with the tide to Cumberland Island National Seashore where they will spend the next few days camping in a primitive area of the island. This exciting Father & Son Adventure has been months in the making and is sure to garner many “tall tales” and “fish stories.”

More to come…

posted by Judy Leslie in Community,Families,Students,Treks and have Comments (2)

Oh yes, they did!

Laser focus from the boys during Regional Mission work.

Our Bears have a winning streak going on, and we’re proud to let you know it!

Not only did they place 11th in the Robot Performance category in last weekend’s State LEGO League competition — their highest finish ever — but our own Coach Nick Linscott brought home Coach of the Year AGAIN! The presentation of this particular award has not been made at the State level since 2005, when Mr. Linscott was also  its recipient. Does it sound like we have someone special leading our boys? We think so!  Tommy remarked, “I couldn’t do this without my coach. He helped the team through everything. To us, it’s obvious why he won Coach of the Year.”

The always humble Nick refocused the accolades back onto the boys during an assembly Monday morning, honoring the team’s accomplishments. “Rick was a rock while driving the robot,” Nick said. “He was focused and laser sharp on accumulating points during the mission. Tommy made an amazing recovery when he attempted to place a tool on the robot and it fell apart in his hands. He reassembled it and got it on the robot quick enough to make some more buzzer-beating points for us.”

“Everyone had a great part in this and I’m proud of their accomplishment,” he added. Michael said the best part of the weekend was really, “when Nick got his award.”

“I feel happy and excited that our teamwork didn’t fail,” Vincent commented.

“I would never done this at a regular public school,” Eddie said. “I would have felt like I would be judged (badly for joining LEGO League) there.”

“Going to Columbia was one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had,” Dain remarked. “I’ve learned so much about technology while working with the robot.” Rick added, “It was a pretty cool experience.”

Only six more months until the 2012 Missions are released. Here on campus, we  can’t wait!

posted by Judy Leslie in Community,Students and have Comments (4)

Bears Triumph in Walhalla!!!

The Cherokee Creek Bears upset Walhalla tonight in a 35-42 victory! Congratulations to the team and to Coaches Mike Shepherd and Chris Leamons for their leadership. The boys are completely psyched! Their coaches are very happy and the cheering section, which included a parent and Executive Director David LePere are all very proud. David says, “This was the best team play I’ve seen all season!”

Yeah, Bears!!!

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Go Wash Your Hands!

Vincent, Alexander and Dain help deliver the Team LEGO science presentation today before lunch

The LEGO League regional qualifier is tomorrow. This means that the Cherokee Creek LEGO Team has been working tirelessly to prepare for the different aspects of tomorrow’s competition: evaluation of programming, robot runs, expression of LEGO League values…and the science presentation.

The science presentation is a scripted skit the boys perform to illustrate their understanding of research they have conducted related to this year’s LEGO League theme, Food Factor. Our team has focused on hand washing as an aspect of food handling.

A sample of the team’s script has been included below. Check out the team’s instructions on proper hand washing technique (delivered in the style of rap, courtesy of Alexander’s musical writing skills):

Alright check this!
Wet you hands with clean running water
Use soap it don’t matter is it’s warma or colda
Scrub them well, backs too, under nails between your fingers
But be careful! The germs will keep clingin on!
So if you need a timer, twice you sing the Happy Birthday song!
Wash for twenty seconds, you got time to spare,
And after that you can dry your hands with towel or air! Word.

posted by Judy Leslie in Community,Students and have Comments (3)