News

See You at the Pole Brings Students, Faculty, and Parents Together in Prayer

PCA students joined others around the globe to pray for our schools, friends, families, churches, and communities as part of See You At The Pole. Lower school students held a special chapel on Wednesday morning while upper school students gathered in the gym before the start of school to intercede for their generation.

This year's theme focused on Chronicles 7:14:"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

See You at the Pole has grown enormously since 1990 when a group of teenagers in Texas came up with the idea during a prayer meeting. Now it's estimated that each year, one million students from across the globe take part in SYATP on the fourth Wednesday in September.

The PCA Capstone: Senior Thesis

PCA students are recognized as individuals who possess strong core academic skills and a clear Christian worldview. However, there is one aspect that may be overlooked; the capstone of every graduating class at PCA: the senior thesis. What exactly is a capstone? The Glossary of Education Reform defines a capstone project as "a multi-faceted assignment that serves as a culminating academic and intellectual experience for students, typically during their final year of high school...similar in some ways to a college thesis."

 All PCA seniors participate in the year-long Senior Thesis class or honors Senior Thesis class. The purpose of the course is for students to actively engage in self-driven research to pursue knowledge in a topic of their choice and prepare an in-depth presentation which they then showcase to a panel of peers, parents, and professionals during the month of April. Whew! That was a mouthful!

 Students in Senior Thesis research a career of their choice while at the same time enlisting the aid of an outside mentor in that respective field. As well as developing an online portfolio that can be taken with them to college or used when applying for jobs and internships, the students will defend how technology specific to their field has made a positive or negative impact on their career choice.

 Students in honors Senior Thesis research a non-career topic of their choice. They will develop an arguable thesis that considers opposing views and will present and defend their position. In conjunction with their research, students will enlist the aid of two mentors, one being a PCA faculty member and the other an outside professional/expert. The students will also participate in some sort of community outreach or involvement related to their topic.

 With knowledge being easy to access in today's age, it is more important than ever to hone critical thinking skills. This is what the Senior Thesis class does: it brings the day-to-day academic and Christian worldview instruction PCA students receive year after year to fruition. It is a visual manifestation of why it pays to be a graduate of PCA.