INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM; CHINESE NEW YEAR!

The international program at NCA is a very interesting, enjoyable and important part of the overall learning experience; some could say that it’s an integral part of our academic life here at NCA, and we would have to agree! On Friday, all of our international students joined us in the Student Activity Center (SAC) for a Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year celebration (and of course a lot of food and fun)! Our International Admissions Director, Mrs. Pamela Starkey, is a large part of the success of the International Program, as she was integral in getting it started here at NCA – and she continues to work extremely hard at giving students across the globe an opportunity to experience the difference that NCA can make in students’ lives!

Not only has Mrs. Starkey worked tirelessly to help get global students here, but she has also enjoyed putting together fun events for the students to enjoy! Below is a letter, which comes straight from her heart, explaining the Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year celebration and all of our participants for this year:

“Hello Middle & High School Teachers,

Last year we celebrated the Chinese New Year at school with our Chinese students and this year we would like to celebrate with ALL of our International Students. Below are some details regarding our school party:

Chines New Year’s Celebration

Friday, February 13th, during 8th period

Student Activity Center

Year of the Goat (which I recently found is interchangeable with the Lamb – you can read this in Exodus)

Unlike the dinner we will share at my home on a later date, the students do not need to bring any food or drinks to share for this party – this is my gift to them. I will serve them pork and vegetable dumplings and fried rice. I was going to make them authentic Chinese tea, but they told me they wanted soda (I guess some things are universal with teenagers)…Sandra Zhu and MinJun Song have been converted by living with the Wallace family as they were the only two that requested sweet tea – BTW, they both love Alabama too. There is some serious indoctrination going on in that home!

Our other Asian students celebrate the Lunar New Year too so this holiday is VERY important to the majority of our international students, especially those from China. The students feel very sad this time of year as families travel from all over to be together to celebrate this holiday; it’s all about being together and having lots of great food.

Thank you in advance for allowing them to miss your 8th period class on Friday; I know this will be a big blessing to our international students. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Below are our current international students:

An, JuSeong

Chen, Jessie

Fu, Betty

Guillen, Daniel

Guillen, Melissa

Guo, Tom

He, Xintong

Hong, Jin

Kang, Gary

Kim, Taehee

Le, Minh

Lee, June

Lee, Taewoo

Li, Eric

Lin James

Ma, Marc

Moon, JiWon

Obodai, Arnold

Park, Chan

Qu, Tarrance

Song, JinHo

Song, MinJun

Song, Steven

Tan, Crystal

Tang, Betty

Yan, Jeremy

Yoon, Jun

Wang, Mandy

Zhu, Sandra

May the Lord bless you and your families abundantly,

🙂

Pamela Starkey”

Not only are we thankful for the heart (and the hard work) Mrs. Starkey has for the International Program, but we are also extremely excited that our International Students were able to participate in such a fun event! The students had a great time enjoying delicious food, sodas, games and getting to know each other a little bit better than they did the day before. We are thankful for these wonderful students and thank God that they are able to be a part of the NCA experience! What a blessing it is for us to have them in our school – to see how they enrich the lives of our American students, and above all, to have the opportunity to minister to them in a Christ-centered environment! We not only strive to impact our students for eternity, but we also aim to impact students for eternity on a global scale!

See more about our International Program by clicking here!