During one of our recent middle school chapels, I asked all of our students who had been involved in any of our athletic teams to stand up. I started with cross-country, then volleyball and basketball, followed by grade 7 and 8 badminton, track and field, secondary soccer teams and golf team. In the end, we had over 80% of our middle school students standing!

And the award goes to…

Student participation, staff involvement, and contributions to our school’s greater community are the three main criteria for an annual award that BC School Sports hands out at their annual general meeting in May.

So, I was not surprised to hear that Abbotsford Christian Middle School was the Outstanding Middle School in the province for 2014-2015! This is no small award; there are approximately 100 middle or junior high schools in the province, and BC School Sports is the over-arching organization for all school athletics involving students in grades 8-12.

Thirty-five minutes of PE

With over 80% of our students involved in our athletic teams and an even higher percentage of our staff involved in coaching or being a staff sponsor of a team, Abbotsford Christian Middle School is definitely a candidate for this prestigious award, based on the first two criteria.

Additionally, the selection committee at BC School Sports was impressed by the fact that ACMS students have 35 minutes of Physical Education class every day. The final criteria was community involvement and service, and our school’s service learning program more than fulfills this aspect of the award (see my previous blog post on Avodah for more information on our service learning).

From North Delta to Hope

During the same chapel at which I asked all of our student athletes to stand, Jack Boersma, the head coach of our Track and Field team, presented another banner to our grade 8 athletes. It was fitting that on the occasion of receiving the BC School Sports Outstanding School award, we were also able to celebrate winning the Fraser Valley Championship banner that our grade 8 boys and girls earned this past week for their performances at the Track and Field Championships. The Fraser Valley consists of all the schools from Surrey and North Delta, across to Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, and east through Langley, Maple Ridge, Mission, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and out to Hope.

We have an athletic program that is outstanding on so many levels, and we give praise to God for our students’ honouring Him through excellence in athletics!