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Newsletters Highlight Covenant Youth Activities
CHICAGO, IL (March 10, 2004) - Juniors Luke and Shannon Seidel of First
Covenant Church in Seattle have been busy athletically this winter as
Luke plays basketball on the West coast and Shannon competes in track
and field on the East coast.
Luke recently finished his season at California Baptist University in
Riverside, California, averaging nearly 14 points and four rebounds for
his team. He scored 24 points with seven rebounds February 24 in an
89-86 loss against Azusa Pacific University, the fourth rated team in
the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) polls.
Shannon is finishing her indoor track and field season for the
University of Massachusetts-Lowell, a NCAA Division II school near
Boston. Last weekend, she won the pentathlon (a five-event competition)
with a personal best 3,409 points at the New England Championships at
Boston University as her team finished fifth of 31 schools.
A week earlier, she competed in five events at the Northeast Conference
championships, winning the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches,
while placing second in the 55-meter high hurdles, third in the long
jump and triple jump and fourth in the pole vault.
Numerous other Evangelical Covenant Church young people have been busy
in recent
weeks. Their efforts are listed by conference and region.
CENTRAL
- Iron River, Michigan: Grace Covenant Church high school student Ana
Johnson has committed to travel to Aracatuba, Brazil, in June for a
short-term mission trip sponsored by Brazil Inland missionaries George
and Nici Harmon. The team will help construct an addition to a church
there and coordinate a summer camp for kids, among other things.
EAST COAST
- Cromwell, Connecticut: Children's Home of Cromwell (CHOC) uses a
Tuesday night tutoring/mentoring program to assist some of the 71
children who are part of the facility. The Buddy Program meets every
Tuesday night during the school year from 6 to 7 p.m. Volunteer mentors
from the community are paired with a child and they spend an hour
working on homework, playing games or simply talking. The Tutor Program
is similar except that the volunteer and child focus more on helping
with academics. There is no skill or previous experience necessary for
any of these programs. More about the two programs can be found by
calling John Powers, director of Community Affairs at CHOC, at
860-635-6010, X334 or by emailing him at vols@childhome.org.
ECCAK
- Nome, Alaska: KICY radio is getting a college intern next year as
Albert
Swanson of Brandon, South Dakota, is headed to the station this summer
to earn college credit from Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Swanson, a junior at the school, is in the midst of earning a
broadcasting degree. He has been working at his school's campus radio
station and is producing his own weekly music program. KICY is enjoying
its largest volunteer staff in recent memory, said the station's
executive director Dennis Weidler. Another volunteer, Neil Peterson, has
provided play-by-play broadcasting for area high school basketball games
and the added sports coverage has helped the station pick up needed
sponsorship dollars while establishing a rapport with its increasing
audience. More about KICY can be found on the radio station's web site at
www.kicy.org.
GREAT LAKES
- Traverse City, Michigan: West Bay Covenant Church youth group member
Amber Hansen is a sophomore girls volleyball player at Traverse City
Christian High School and was featured in her church's recent newsletter
for her efforts.
- Jamestown, New York: Three students from First Covenant Church were
honored for various activities recently, according to a February church
newsletter article. Caitlin Blackman of Jamestown High School was
selected to participate in the New York All-State Chorus in November and
in January she and David Meger performed at the Fed-Ex Orange Bowl in
Miami with the Jamestown High marching band after winning area
competitions. Meanwhile, Christine Blackman made the academic Merit Roll
at Jamestown High last semester.
- Lyndhurst, Ohio: A Bethany Covenant Church youth Amanda Kristoff and
her
cousin Madeline Hester teamed up to put on a benefit karaoke concert for
family and friends in December. They raised $46 for a church
organization called Care Ministries. Amanda is 9 years old and is part
of the church children's choir.
MIDWEST
- Clyde, Kansas: Brantford Evangelical Covenant Church college students
Lynette Brax and Brittany Toll made the fall semester honors list for
finishing in the top 10 percent of their class during the term.
- Salina, Kansas: First Covenant Church of Salina's Sean Pietrzyk
competed
in the Kansas High School State Class 5A Wrestling championships last
weekend, finishing third in the 189-pound weight class. After winning
his first two matches, Pietrzyk lost 5-3 to Willy Cochran of Gardner
Edgerton High School before winning his final two matches. He defeated
Sheldon Pipken of Liberal High School by a 7-6 decision to earn third
place and finish his season 24-7. A junior at Salina South High School,
Pietrzyk qualified for state by winning the regional title in Newton,
beating Brandon Bowers of McPherson High School 9-0 in the finals. He
won the Beloit Invitational and finishing second in the Newton
Tournament of Champions during the regular season. Pietrzyk won the
152-pound Kansas High School State Wrestling championship in 2003 and
finished the season 34-1 overall. Pietrzyk was ranked 10th in his weight
division by USA Wrestling that year.
NORTH PACIFIC
- Salem, Oregon: A son of Trinity Covenant Church parishioners Kim and
Chris Case, Adam Parnell, recently played with the National Festival
Orchestra at New York's Carnegie Hall. Parnell, an oboe player, is a
student in the music department at Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio.
- Olympia, Washington: Grace Community Covenant Church's Michael Larsen
will headed to California for a Habitat for Humanity building project
and fellow Trinity Western University (British Columbia) student Caitlin
Chisholm went to Chicago for an inner city project last month.
- Spokane, Washington: First Covenant Church's Karen Peterson is a member
of the Washington State University marching band. She and the Cougar
band played at the Holiday Bowl football game in San Diego, California
in December.
NORTHWEST
- Mankato, Minnesota: A total of 22 junior high students from the
Evangelical Covenant Church of Mankato attended "Acquire the Fire," a
youth conference held recently at the Target Center in Minneapolis. They
stayed at nearby Plymouth Covenant Church and joined that youth group in
activities one evening. Seven volunteers from the church also attended.
Speakers included noted evangelist Josh McDowell. Said one student of
the experience, "This trip changed my life and had a great impact on
everyone in our group."
- Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethlehem Covenant Church's Anneva Knapp
recently won a trophy for her science project at Cyber Village Academy.
She compared a domestic parakeet's reactions to 25 native Minnesota
birdcalls. Results demonstrated that the bird's pitch determined the
intensity of the reaction. Another student from the church, Meta
Swanson, assisted in the research.
- New London, Minnesota: Josh Nelson of the Evangelical Covenant
Church of
New London recently left the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Perth,
Australia, and began work with an outreach ministry in Nepal.
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
- San Diego, California: Jeff Ponsford of Clairemont Covenant Church
is a junior outfielder with the University of Redlands, a Division III
school in southern California. He had 9 hits in his first 16 at-bats
this season as his team went 3-6. Last year, Ponsford was a starting
right fielder as his team went 18-21 overall. He hit .291 with 15 walks
and nine doubles.
SOUTHEAST
- Silverhill, Alabama: The Evangelical Covenant Church recently
featured young adult Sara Gwaltney in its church newsletter. Gwaltney
was an All-State softball player while at Robertsdale High School and
now is one of the state's strongest women in her age classification.
Last August, she had a single bench press of 143.2 pounds for the WABD
state weightlifting mark for those in the Junior Women 20-25-year old age
division's 148-pound weight class. She competed in a national power
lifting competition in Las Vegas last fall.
- Greensboro, North Carolina: Trinity Church's Mary Grace Putnam overcame
a knee injury to win a girls cross country conference title and finish
17th in the state's 2A meet for Western Guilford High School last fall.
She is a junior at the school and participates this spring for the track
and field program in distance events. A state qualifier in the indoor
state track meet, she also qualified for state in the outdoor
championships last spring in the 800 meter and 1,600 meter events. Along
with her running prowess, she is an honor student and sings in the
church choir.
ELSEWHERE
- Japan: Amy Haworth, daughter of Covenant missionaries Jay and Ellen
Haworth, is playing basketball at her high school and recently sang
solos for Christmas worship services.
More about Covenant youth and young adults can be found on
www.covchurch.org. To send information about children, teens and young
adults, email Covenant Communications at newsdesk@covchurch.org or call
773-478-4631.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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