News

A Memorable 30th Anniversary Celebration: Chili Cook-off & Concert!

What a way to wrap up the last of our big events celebrating PCA's 30th anniversary year! On Thursday evening, PCA hosted a family focused Chili Cook-off and Concert Event that brought together our community for fellowship and fun.  

The front lawns were filled with families enjoying toe-tapping music (provided by PCA Board Member Greg Horton's band) and delighting in the jump castles, hot dogs, popcorn, and sweet treats from an ice cream truck. Inside the Welcome Center, nine chili cook-off teams set up and decorated their tables in unique themes that represented each team's flavor of chili. From “Spice Girls In The Garden” to “The Danger Zone” there was a type of chili for everyone!  

Official judges sampled the chili and cast their votes in several categories while parents and students cast their votes for the People's Choice Award. Here's a look at the winning teams: 

Best Overall Chili - Pork and Beans  

People’s Choice- Pork and Beans

Best School Spirit/Tailgating Theme - The Golden Girls

Best Creative Recipe - Pascutti’s Last Hurrah

Best Traditional Recipe - The Red Hot Chili Ladies

Screams of delight filled the air as the winners were announced and came up to receive their gift baskets filled with goodies. Of course, this event would not have been possible without the help of the PCA village and community.

A special thank you to the Chili Cook-off judges.. Bill Macchio, Editor of Mount Pleasant Magazine, Buster Brown, ECBC Senior Pastor, and Jennifer Horton, Owner of ZAGS and PCA mom.

We also want to give a huge thank you to Tifany O’Neal and Margaret O’Hanley for all of their time and enthusiasm in making this event shine! And last but not least, a big thank you to all of the teams who participated and the families that came out to make this such a fun evening.

Happy 30th Anniversary PCA!!!

The Process & Privilege Of American Citizenship

Caroline Atkinson’s second grade class has been learning about the United States government and what it means to be, as well as how to become, a U.S. citizen. Lucky for them, one of their classmates' dad’s, Michael Shuttleworth, has dual citizenship in both England and the United States! Shuttleworth came in to speak to the students and share his experience.

He began by explaining the process of receiving a visa and green card (as well as what each of those documents meant). He also shared his personal story of citizenship, and what that looked like as far as getting together the correct documents, taking a test, and being sworn in as a U.S. citizen. 

“It was great getting to explain to the kids what an amazing privilege they have of being born in America,” explained Shuttleworth, ”and all the freedoms that includes.” 

Naturally, our second graders' inquisitive minds led to many questions:

“Have you ever met the Queen of England?’ 
Answer: “I’ve not met the queen but I got to see her at the Highland Games, which was smaller than a Battery game. She was standing about 50 yards from me with a bunch of the royal family!”

“Which passport do you use?”
Answer: “English to get into England, American to get back into America. It really cuts down on the lines. Plus, I feel cool, and I get a ‘welcome home’ at both ends.”

It was a wonderful opportunity for students to hear first hand about the process that they had spent so much time reading and learning about!