News

PCA Student Makes School History Being Selected For All State Band

8th grader, Levi Song, is the first PCA band student to earn a chair in the South Carolina All State Band. He began preparing for his audition months ago. The audition includes scales, a prepared solo, musical terminology, and sightreading. He worked very hard to prepare all the parts of his audition in the months that led up to the first audition.  

The first audition was for the SC Region 4 Honor Band. He competed against other middle school euphonium players from the following counties: Charleston, Dorchester, Beaufort, Calhoun, Colleton, Jasper, and Orangeburg. After that audition, he had earned 1st chair in the region band and this meant he was the top scoring euphonium player in our region and his score qualified him to audition for the SC All State Band. He also worked hard in the weeks between the two auditions to get himself even more prepared for the second round of auditions. Now he would be competing with the best middle school euphonium players from each of the six regions. After his second audition, he earned 2nd chair in the SC Junior All State Band. PCA Band Director Mike Doll says, "I am very proud of Levi and the hard work and determination he put into his auditions. It is a privilege to teach Levi and have him in our band!" 

Levi set three PCA records this year: first band student to earn a first chair in the region band, first PCA band student to earn a callback to audition for the All State Band, and the first PCA band student to represent Christ, himself, his family, and PCA in the All State Band. He will participate in the All State Clinic at Furman University on March 10-12. Congratulations Levi!

Exploding "Volcanoes" Bring Shrieks Of Surprise

The Scientific Method can be seen in action all over PCA’s campus this month! 

Last week Mrs. Rhodes took her second grade class on an adventure to explore what makes up the Earth, without even having to leave their desks.

“We followed the steps of the scientific method to discover what happens when a gas builds up in a closed space like a volcano,” explained Rhodes. “We turned our desks into mini science labs where we set up our equipment. Each student wore safety goggles which protected their eyes, and even more protected their hearts as we saw the lesson through God's lens of truth.”

Each student filled a brightly colored plastic tube with two droppers of water, before carefully adding a half of an Alka Seltzer tablet. Quickly, the students capped the tube and began to energetically give it a shake! Waiting for the reaction they knew would come, students hurriedly took a step back and within seconds they watched as their tubes launched into the air! This immediately brought squeals of surprise and delight as you'll see in the video below.

“We realized gas build-ups are explosively dangerous, as rocks and lava blast into the air from a volcano,” recalled Rhodes. In studying science and the Bible, Mrs. Rhodes' students discovered that the Earth's surface has become dangerous since the Fall but scientists can help people understand the dangers and prepare them for natural disasters. 

From floating M’s last week to exploring the earth this week, students at PCA are building on their scientific knowledge and skills all around campus.