School calendar changes due to snow days
Because of the unprecedented number of snow days this past week, we are enacting the following changes in order to help us all catch up on the scheduled curriculum. The following days which previously had been “no school” days will now be regular school days for both the Grammar and Upper Schools: Monday, January 16th – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, now a regular school day. Friday, March 10th – This had been scheduled as a teacher work day but will now be a regular school day. Friday, May 5th – This day had been scheduled as a teacher inservice day. This day will change to an early release day (11:30 am) instead. This is also the day of Protocol. CHANGE FOR UPPER SCHOOL ONLY: March 20th – This is currently scheduled for Parent Teacher conferences. The Grammar School will still hold conferences as usual and have no school this day. The Upper School will now have classes this day, and the Upper School teachers will be available for conferences from 3 pm to 6 pm. You’ll note that we have done all we can to not touch key events – Feed the Need (Feb. 10), Presidents Day (Feb. 20), Spring Break (Mar. 27-31) or Summer Break (begins May 29). However, winter isn’t over yet! These changes have been reflected on our online calendar. Please note these changes on any printed calendars you may have.
SCHOOL IS CLOSED MONDAY, JANUARY 9TH
Boise & West Ada school districts have canceled school for Monday, January 9th, due to ice and flooding. We will cancel as well. Please watch your email for further updates from teachers and administration regarding both work students can do from home and calendar changes for the remainder of the school year.
SCHOOL IS CLOSED FRIDAY JANUARY 6th
Ambrose Families, As per policy, West Ada and/or Boise School Districts have canceled school for Friday, January 6th due to dangerous sidewalks, unplowed residential streets and projected sub-zero temperatures, so we will also follow suit. Watch for emails and texts regarding athletic activities from our Athletic Director and/or coaches. Enjoy YET ANOTHER snow day with your families. Kirk Vander Leest Headmaster
Feed the Need is coming February 10th
ARE YOU READY? We are excited to have our second community event that will help Feed the Need and put 60,000 meals on Treasure Valley tables! We will once again partner with Homestead Ministries of Colfax WA, and the Boise Rescue Mission to package 60,000 (or more!) meals to be distributed to those in need throughout the Treasure Valley. Homestead Ministries purchases or procures donations of locally grown grains such as beans, peas, lentils, wheat, and barley from farmers and processors, along with spices, bags, and labels. These items will be brought to the school on Friday, February 10th. Stations will be set up in the gym and teams of students will come throughout the day to mix 10,000 1 lb. soup packages – enough to equal 60,000 meals. Homestead Ministries began in August 2014 when friends Tom Riedner and Greg Nolan saw an opportunity to help reduce the hunger problem in the Northwest. Their desire is to use locally produced agricultural products to feed the hungry efficiently and generously using Christian values. Most people do not realize grains have different grades. Homestead purchases (in some cases grains are donated) these rich resources that do not make the exceptional grade for the marketplace but that are equal in nutritional value from the processors at reduced prices. A soup mix recipe is then created with the appropriate spices, and all the supplies are brought to volunteer groups for assembly. This process has provided thousands of meals that are distributed through local shelters, churches, and food banks. According to Tom Riedner, “At Homestead Ministries we try to plant a seed for compassion. We have one mission that stands out from our other goals and that is to spread Christ’s Love and Understanding, one soup packet at a time. By developing a soup recipe using locally grown commodities and distributing the product to the hungry across the Pacific Northwest, we feel Homestead Ministries is doing just that. Our desire is to help people feed their families by providing a delicious, nutritious protein-based product to improve their lives. Our intent is to feed all that are hungry so nobody is turned away.” Boise Rescue Mission will be one recipient of the finished soup mixes, which they will use both in food boxes for families, and daily meals at their four area shelters. “We sincerely appreciate Homestead Ministries and The Ambrose School of Meridian for making this generous gift of much needed food. As we continue to serve over 1,100 meals each day and provide over 400 safe nights of shelter daily, this gift insures that the mission will continue to meet the needs of homeless and hungry people,” says Jason Billester of Boise Rescue Mission. Kirk Vander Leest, Headmaster of The Ambrose School says, “Part of what makes this program so successful is the volunteer manpower – or kidpower, as the case may be. Although monetary donations are always vitally important to any charitable organization, we as a school are able to provide 500 willing and able students in one location to produce a huge amount of food in less than six hours. This is not only extremely efficient, but a great opportunity for our kids to serve others in their own backyard.” 7.3 percent of Idaho’s residents are food insecure — 274,230 people or 1 in 6. More than 23 percent of Idaho’s children are food insecure — 96,090 children or 1 in 4. Of the 274,230 food-insecure people, about 120,429 have incomes that make them eligible for food stamps. Around 56,200 have incomes which make them eligible for WIC and reduced-price school meals, but not food stamps.The other 90,991 have incomes which make them ineligible for public assistance, according to the Idaho Foodbank. These people rely on private charities, such as a church food pantry or the Idaho Foodbank. (source: Idaho Foodbank) 2015 FEED THE NEED REPORT After partnering with Homestead Ministries and the Boise Rescue Mission to help those in need throughout the Treasure Valley, we set a goal to provide 10,000 bags of soup mix to be distributed to the community. So on September 25th, 2015, we started at about 8:30 am with our kindergarten students who jumped right into the task at hand. We kept a tally on our gym scoreboard and watched the numbers creep up as Greg Nolan of Homestead Ministries announced totals and updated the board. There were tables of students madly sticking labels onto the bags, and a merry-go-round of workers assembling the spice packets – a different combination for each type of soup. Then there were the tables where workers had an assembly line – drop in the spice packet, scoop the appropriate amount of beans, pour into the bag, then take it to the sealers. The sealers then laid the bags across the machine, pressed it, and handed the bag back to be packed into the boxes. Students in their red Feed the Need t-shirts took shifts throughout the day, and by the time the upper school students took over, boxes full of 3-bean, lentil, and split pea soup packages were stacking up on the side of the gym, ready to be hauled off by the Boise Rescue Mission and other churches and food banks. Homestead Ministries are experts at setting up an efficient production process, providing all the equipment and materials plus the beans, lentils, and peas. The process was simple, and the students thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to serve. By 2:00 pm, we had 8,000 bags packaged and ready! We weren’t the only ones excited about this event – we were honored to have First Lady Lori Otter, state senator Chuck Winder, and Deputy Chief Tracy Basterrechea join students at the workstations to help fill some bags! We also had visits from Eagle mayor Jim Reynolds and Ken Corder from the City of Meridian, along with representatives from the local media. We invited 94.1 KBXL to do a live broadcast from the school, and invited anyone in need of food to come by. In the evening,
SCHOOL IS CLOSED TODAY JANUARY 5TH
Ambrose Families, As per policy, West Ada and/or Boise School Districts have canceled school today, so we will also follow suit. Several after school activities – basketball practices, etc – may still continue as conditions improve. Look for future e-mails about these specifics from our Athletic Director and/or coaches. Enjoy ANOTHER snow day with your families. Kirk Vander Leest Headmaster
‘The Hope of Christmas’ available LIVE on our Facebook page
Tonight’s performance (12/6) of our annual Christmas program will be livestreamed on our Facebook page so that anyone unable to join us at the Morrison Center can watch online. Go to The Ambrose School Facebook page at 7:00 pm MST. Scroll down the page to find the LIVE video. If you miss the show, the recording will also be available on our Facebook page under the VIDEOS tab. We will also be broadcasting an edited version of the show on KTVB Channel 7 on Christmas Eve at 10:35 pm and Christmas Day at 6:00 am.
‘The Hope of Christmas’ December 6th at The Morrison Center
For the second year in a row, our music program has received a generous grant from the Morrison Foundation to present our traditional Christmas concert featuring all K – 6 students along with the upper school choirs, orchestra and special groups at their famed venue, the Velma V. Morrison Performing Arts Center. The program is known for its traditional sounds of Christmas from the middle ages through the early 20th century. Chimes, strings, timpani, children and youth voices create a beautiful evening of Christmas joy. This year’s theme is ‘The Hope of Christmas’ reflecting the hope that was born to all mankind on Christmas Day. Special groups performing include the 4th – 6th grade hand chimes, Cantavi (4th – 6th honors choir), Gaudeo (9th – 12th honors choir), a solo flutist and a guest professional brass quintet. A full orchestra and all K – 6 students will also present. The show will open with a big arrangement of “Joy to the World” for all singers, full orchestra, and Glory Brass, our guest professional brass quintet. The second piece, also featuring all combined musical resources, will be “Cradle Hymn,” a lovely new piece by Norwegian composer Kim André Arnesen. Linnea Johnson will perform a solo flute feature by Bach, the Largo e dolce from Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030. Hand Chimes will play “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and we will conclude with the massed ensemble performing “Hallelujah” from Handel’s Messiah. Come celebrate the birth of our Savior on December 6th beginning at 7:00 pm. Invite family, neighbors, and friends to come enjoy this beautiful and stirring musical presentation featuring centuries of song performed by our students. BUY TICKETS HERE LIVESTREAM OF CHRISTMAS PROGRAM AVAILABLE ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE Ambrose families: Please contact the office for the Ambrose family discount code.
Over 450 attend the Heroic Truth weekend!
Josh McDowell’s Heroic Truth seminar made a huge impact in the Treasure Valley last weekend. His seminar, designed to encourage and equip students, parents, teachers, and church staff to understand and defend their faith in light of the coming cultural storms educated attendees on creation, the historical accuracy of the Bible, how to answer skeptics, and more. Capital Church in Meridian promoted and hosted the Friday and Saturday events. If you were unable to attend, stay tuned as we will be sharing the video recordings soon. After speaking at our annual auction Saturday evening, Josh also agreed to conduct a special seminar on Sunday afternoon entitled “One Click Away” where he revealed the results of a Barna study on pornography and how it is destroying Christian families and what you can do about it. We encourage you to watch this workshop online on our Facebook page (click on Videos and find “Heroic Truth with Josh McDowell – Online Dangers”). Workshop recording can be found on our Facebook page (click on Videos and find “Heroic Truth with Josh McDowell – Online Dangers”) 20 Resources to Combat Pornography Find more information and Josh’s research at josh.org. Thank you to everyone involved in bringing this incredible weekend together. We pray that this was a blessing to your family.
