Naples Christian Academy - Naples Christian Academy: March 2009

Sydney Schaef, 1998 Graduate of Naples Christian Academy - Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sydney Schaef is a 1998 graduate of Naples Christian Academy and continued on to become an outstanding student-athlete at Barron Collier High School. Throughout her four years at Barron Collier, Sydney demonstrated a remarkable drive for academic excellence. Aside from her elective credits, Sydney took only honor and Advanced Placement courses and managed to balance a consistently challenging class schedule with numerous other activities. She was President of the Spanish Honor Society, Vice President of the National Honor Society , and was a team-huddle leader with Fellowship of Christian Athletes for each of her four years. Sydney was the starting point guard on the Girl's Varsity Basketball team for four years, a two-year captain, and a four-year All-District player. She won several All-Tournament Player Awards for her high school team, and played six years of AAU basketball. Along side her studies and involvement in extracurricular activities at school, Sydney also began to explore her musical talent by leading worship for youth groups and composing, recording, and performing her original songs. Sydney was voted the 2001-2002 Barron Collier Female Student of the Year by faculty and staff and she graduated from Barron Collier High School ranked 6th in her class.

Sydney attended the University of Florida and during her time there became involved in a number of ministries. In the fall of 2003, Sydney was introduced to Desire Street Ministries, located in New Orleans. "It was absolutely a turning point in my life. The passion, vision, and resolve of this man and this ministry have challenged and changed me like nothing else ever has." A branch of DSM is Justice Road Productions, a record label through which the arts are used as a way of sharing the vision of the kingdom of God in the most desolate and poverty-stricken communities in the world. Sydney became a singer/songwriter for the JRP label in 2004, and since then has been sharing with others through music performances and speaking engagements about DSM. In the fall of 2005, Sydney took advantage of a student exchange program offered through the University of Florida, and spent four months in Tanzania (East Africa), studying at the University of Dar-es-Salaam. It was during this time that she was introduced to the Hananasif Orphanage Center located in the slums of the city. "During my time at Hananasif, I had found myself once again staring in the face of what I believed unquestionably was the redemptive work of God; and once again, it was tucked away in one of the most unexpected and unimpressive corners of the world. From inner-city New Orleans to inner-city Dar, I witnessed the same spirit, the same joy, the same redemptive pattern." While completing dual degrees in History and Religion and a minor in African Studies, Sydney continued to promote the inner-city work of Desire Street Ministries, and the work abroad in Tanzania through the Hananasif Orphanage Center.

Since graduating from the University of Florida, Sydney has continued her involvement in actively raising funds and promoting the work of Hananasif. She also started Kujali International, with the vision of
partnering with orphanages to expand programming for orphaned and vulnerable children in the areas of health, education, entrepreneurship, and the arts. Its mission is to provide vulnerable youth with the tools and opportunities to overcome poverty and become leaders for change in their communities. If you'd like to learn more about Hananasif, please visit www.hananasif.org. Sydney continues to work with Kujali and Hananasif while also working as a teacher in Southern California.

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The Advantage of Christian Education - Monday, March 23, 2009

Scott Jones (our Head of School here at the Academy) emailed me an interesting article from the Association of Christian Schools International quantifying the decline of Christianity in America over the last twenty years or so. As an independent institution devoted to cultivating a Biblical worldview in our students' minds and hearts, I am sad to read the statistics. However, I rejoice in knowing that we are continuing to accomplish our mission of partnering with Christian parents to develop students who know and understand God's Word and the impact of Biblical truth in their daily lives. Now, more than ever, we are faced with significant challenges economically, but we are faced with even greater spiritual challenges in the battle for our students' hearts. It is more important now than it has ever been to continue a commitment to Christian education for our children. As we graduate students who possess a Biblical worldview, I pray that they would impact culture for Christ and His Kingdom. I would challenge you to do the same.

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