New Year, New Beginnings at TCA

After a summer filled with construction noise echoing through the hallways, the school is once again filled with the energy of a new school year. As our elementary students file into our brightly lit, newly renovated classrooms, their excitement is palpable. It was a pleasure to see the joy on their faces when they saw their rooms for the first time at the Welcome Back Barbecue! As humans, we love new things, and we crave things that are pristine and untouched. No doubt this is a reflection of our innate desire as creatures made in the image of God to long for our eternal dwelling place where all things will be made new (Revelation 21:14).

 A long time ago, when I was in Miss Weaver’s 5th grade class, I memorized the entire Book of James. Many of you who have come through TCA have also benefited from this. Those seeds that were sown in my life as an eleven-year-old continue to guide me and help me navigate life. This past year, it was exciting to see our 5th grade renew the tradition of memorizing the entire Book of James. Bible memorization has always been an integral part of TCA’s curriculum as we seek to equip our graduates to rightly interpret and apply the Word of God, share the Gospel with a lost world, and confidently defend their faith.

1. Appropriating the message of salvation through Jesus Christ and integrating God’s Word in everyday life

2. Understanding the worth of every human being as created in the image of God and acknowledging God as the creator and sustainer of all things while recognizing the pervasive effects of sin in marring the creation of God and our understanding of both God and the world He has made.

3. Recognizing their identity and responsibilities as image-bearers of God, created uniquely in His image.

4. Knowing and understanding that God has a plan and purpose for their lives.

5. Understanding and articulating the meaning of a Christian worldview and dialoging effectively with those who hold a different worldview.

6. Possessing apologetic skills to defend their faith.

I’m excited to share that our students from preschool through 12th grade memorized over 600 verses last year, and my prayer is that the Bible verses will take root and bear fruit throughout their lives, shaping their thoughts, decisions, and faith.

As we begin this new school year, please keep our students, teachers, and staff in your prayers. Pray that God would guide, strengthen, and encourage our school community, and that He would use this year to grow our students in wisdom, faith, and a deeper love for His Word.

New Spaces

Our kindergarten and elementary students enjoyed their bright new classrooms on the first day of school; preschool students got to try out the new playground at recess; and while the awning is still under construction, the front entrance already looks great with the new sidewalk. We give thanks to the Lord for his provision, and extend our gratitude to the many generous donors who made these upgrades possible.

New Faces

• Lynn Haseltine, Nurse | Lynn will be serving as our nurse four days a week. Lynn is the wife of our Athletic Director Rod Haseltine and the mother of four TCA alumni: Brit ‘16, Lindsay ‘18, Colton ‘23, and Jackson ‘25. Lynn holds a BS in Nursing from Cedarville University and has extensive experience in pediatric nursing, notably at Nemours Children’s Hospital.

• Sue Piasecki, Nurse | Sue will be serving as our school nurse one day a week and is the mother of six children, including our Spanish Teacher, Elizabeth Piasecki. In her free time, Sue loves to babysit her 11 grandchildren and is a member of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Wallingford. You may recognize her as the driver of our van that picks up students from Philadelphia.

• Barbara Howard, Food Services Coordinator | Barbara will be serving as our Food Services Coordinator. She shares: “My walk with Christ began back when I was a young adult graduating from high school. I learned to lean on the lord and trust him to give me strength when life was difficult. My prayer life continued and was needed when my spouse and other soldiers were sent to fight in the Gulf War. That was again one of the times my faith required me to remain strong, and prayers were important.” Barbara attended Philadelphia Community College and worships at Bethany Baptist Church.

• Carli Sitkowski, Middle and High School P.E. | Carli is a 2016 graduate of TCA and also serves as an Associate Head Coach of the Women’s Soccer team at Eastern University. Carli holds a degree in Early Childhood Education and Special Education from Eastern University, where she played soccer all four years and twice earned ALL-MAC Freedom honors. Her grandfather, Phil Ewaka, served on the TCA school board for over 40 years, and she attends Brandywine Valley Church in DE.

Use Your Taxes to Send Kids to TCA!

Help our students for pennies on the dollar! With Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Pennsylvania Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs, you and your businesses can support scholarships for deserving students while getting 90% of your donation back in the form of a tax credit. If you live and work in PA, you are most likely eligible to participate in this program. Approximately 70% of our students receive financial aid. Thanks in part to the involvement in EITC and OSTC of our supporters, we are able to award about $700,000 in scholarship dollars every year. With your participation, you can help us ensure tuition remains reasonable for all our families, and help us provide a challenging educational program that is immersed in a biblical worldview to more families in our community. Michelle Griffith, a TCA faculty member and parent, says:

"Participating in EITC was easier than I thought it would be. I love that my PA taxes can be directed toward helping students attend TCA for a Christian education."

If you’re interested in learning more about these tax credit programs, or if you have any other questions about ways that you can support TCA, please contact Eric Wildermuth, our Director of Advancement. His email is ewildermuth@tca-pa.org, or you can reach him by calling our main office at 610-872-5100.