The Abundant Life School Band Program is conducted by Mr. Joseph Botwinick.  Mr. Botwinick holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from ArkansasTechUniversity where he studied under mentors such as Mr. Hal Cooper, Mr. Andy Anders and Mr. Phil Parker.  He also holds a Master of Science in Education from ArkansasTechUniversity.  Mr. Botwinick has taught in Arkansas since 1997 and this is his fourth year as the Band Director at Abundant Life.  Several of his former students have gone on to earn scholarships to college and major in music. 

At Abundant Life, we offer an Elementary Band Program for 5^th and 6^th grade students.  These students learn the basics of playing their instruments, reading music, and maintaining their instruments.  They also perform in two concerts per year (Christmas and Spring) and in the Region 1 Solo and Ensemble Contest. 

The 7^th through 12^th grade band students participate in a lot more activities including three concerts (Christmas, Pre-Assessment, and Spring Concert), Pep Band at Basketball Games, A Tour of area hospitals during Christmas Time, the Sherwood Christmas Parade, Region 1 Concert and Sight Reading Assessment, Region 1 Solo and Ensemble Contest, and a major band trip (which has included trips to Branson, Missouri and Dallas, Texas last year where the band performed at the Meyerson Symphony Center.  This year, the band will return to Branson, Missouri, where they will perform pre-show at the Sight and Sound Theater for the show, “Joseph”).  The kids work very hard throughout the year, but we also have a lot of fun.

My goal, as the band director, is to inspire discipline, a love for music, leadership, and excellence in music in all my students.  The ultimate goal, however, is to encourage a deeper walk with God as the kids develop as musicians.  I want all we do and say to be a testimony to the Glory of Christ.

ABUNDANT LIFE BASKETBALL 2012-2013

Underline denotes Conference Game

ALS 7th AND 8th GRADE SCHEDULE 2012-2013

More games may be added to the schedule.

Please communicate with coaches about schedule revisions.

 PURPOSE- The ALS cheerleading squad will glorify God by representing ALS through pursuing athletic excellence, developing spiritual growth and servant leadership, and promoting school spirit, while promoting a Christ-centered atmosphere. 

GOAL- We believe in promoting an atmosphere where the cheerleaders understand that a combination of hard work, positive attitude, Christian character, and leadership are the keys to success.  We are a competitive squad and train athletes that demonstrate a strong work ethic, loyalty, respect, and good sportsmanship while having the experience of a lifetime. 

ALS cheerleaders cheer at all home games and most away and tournament games.  We attend a UCA camp at the University of Central Arkansas. At camp we were the 2011 spirit winners, superior overall and 3rd place in extreme routine.   A highlight of our season is competing at state cheer competition in Hot Springs in December. 

Cheerleading at ALS is a year-round athletic commitment that focuses on cheers, dance, stunting, tumbling, and conditioning.  We work hard and strive to do our best so God will receive the glory.

07:55am                        First Bell

08:00am                        Tardy Bell

Middle School/High School Schedule

08:00am - 08:45am         1st Period

08:50am - 09:35am         2nd Period (Chapel on Thursdays)

09:40am - 09:55am         ACTIVITY

10:00am - 10:45am         3rd Period

10:50am - 11:35am         4th Period

11:40am - 12:25pm         5th Period

12:30pm - 01:00pm         LUNCH

01:05pm - 01:50pm         6th  Period

01:55pm - 02:40pm         7th Period

02:45pm - 03:30pm         8th Period

Lunch Schedules

11:15am                         4K & 5K Lunch

11:50am                         1st-4th Grade Lunch

12:30pm                         5th-12th Grade Lunch

Dismissal Times

03:00pm                         4K-2nd

03:15pm                         3rd- 4th

03:30pm                         5th-12th

Pending

Owl Family Association

Owl Family Association (OFA) is Abundant Life School’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). We are a group of parents and other individuals who support ALS through fundraising for education, recreational, and functional needs of the school which are not included in the school budget. OFA also promotes the community of ALS by supporting the faculty, staff, and students. OFA actively recruits parents from all grades. ALS supports and encourages membership and active, constructive participation by all parties.

The OFA Board meets monthly. We have an open OFA meeting every quarter for parents, students, teachers and anyone who wishes to attend. The 2011-2012 meetings are in September, December, March, and May.

We invite you to get acquainted with the opportunities available to those who want to be an active part of the ALS family.
  

OFA Board Members

Steve DeBusk, President
Amy Boswell, Sec/Treasurer
Donna Batte
Brenda Bradley
Paula Lee
Wayne Lee
Melinda McConnell
Donni Reed
Dane Reed
Renee Tebbetts
 
 

Work Days

Throughout the year we meet together on a Saturday and tackle projects around the school. We clean, make repairs, do yard work, etc. This is also a good time to fellowship with other ALS parents. Bring your cleaning supplies or tools and help us keep the school looking GREAT!
  

Fundraising

 
Through the efforts of OFA, money has been raised for a new playground, Accelerated Reader Program for the elementary, new tables for the cafeteria, new chairs for the auditorium, new carpet for elementary classrooms, automation system for the library, new computers to create a computer lab in the high school building and new computers to update the elementary computer lab, and teacher wish lists. There are so many ways to support our fundraising efforts and we need everyone’s participation.

Ink Cartridge Recycling Program – Every year more than 1 billion inkjet cartridges are used; most are thrown away. Recycle ink cartridges and get cash for our school. There is a box located outside the office to place your empty ink cartridges. 

Office Depot 5% Back to Schools Program –Our school will earn credits equal to 5% of your qualifying school supply purchases to use for FREE supplies. You can credit the school year round! Every time you shop at Office Depot, remember to give our school ID# 70003214.

General Mills Box Tops for Education – This is FREE money for our school! Each label collected is worth 10 cents. We encourage each family to collect box tops and turn in to your child’s teacher. We have a contest monthly between classes (one from lower elementary & one from upper elementary). Whichever class brings in the most box tops that month will win an ice cream/popsicle party!

Kroger Rechargeable Gift Cards - The cards are $5.00 each. The cards are preloaded with $5.00 on them, so you get your money right back. How it works…Load your card at guest services and then shop. Use the preloaded card to purchase anything at Kroger including gas at the Kroger pumps. 4% of what you spend on the card will go directly to Abundant Life School. Another local private school similar in size to ALS has already raised $4000 just since the start of the school year. WOW! This is an easy way to earn money for ALS doing the same shopping that you always do.
  

Annual Events

 
Silent Auction – Friday, May 4, 2012 we will host our 4th Annual Auction. It is our biggest fundraiser of the year and continues to get better each year. If you would like to be a part of the planning, soliciting of donations, setting up, working during the auction, cleaning up, or any of the other numerous tasks to make this a success, please consider joining this committee.

Meet the Owl Family – Fall 2012 We had a great turn out last fall to this FREE event and expect great things as we celebrate a new school year. Come out for games, food, and entertainment. We’ll introduce the OWLS basketball teams, cheerleaders, and band. We need people to help with the games, cook and serve food, set up, clean up, etc. This is a great way to get acquainted with the ALS Owl Family. Don’t miss it!!! MORE INFORMATION TO COME!

Chili Cookoff – Winter 2013 – Do you pride yourself on knowing how to make some great tasting chili? Come out and cheer on our basketball teams and support OFA at the same time! We also need help setting up, serving, and cleaning up. Get ready to BUILD your team! MORE INFORMATION TO COME!

Pending

Pending

     The Abundant Life Student Council has been serving both it's school and community for many years. This is a great student government program which participates in various activities throughout each school year. The 2011-2012 council is composed of eight officers and five class representatives all with the desire to serve.  From raising money for school renovations to collecting food for the needy, serving others is always the council's first priority.

    From raising money for school renovations to collecting food for the needy, serving others is always the council's first priority. The famous "penny wars" fundraiser was a huge success this year raising over $1,000 for school renovations. Many important decisions that help the students, teachers, and parents are made by the council every week. There is no doubt that the Abundant Life Student Council loves getting these opportunities to serve and lead to the best of their abilities. 

Pending

What defines a good yearbook? The answer is vibrant pictures, good grammar, a creative theme, and hard work, and Abundant Life’s 2010-2011 yearbook has just that, winning them first place in the 2011-2012 Association of Christian Schools International Yearbook Evaluation contest. 

According to ACSI, their yearbook “[did] a great job of conveying what strengths and values are maintained by each group in the school” and had “correct grammar and sentence structure”, which is a great compliment to the staff and the three senior editors Brittany Connell, Aly Smith, and Justin Williford. They made sure every page was grammatically correct and kept to the theme, Branching Out. The theme was shown very well throughout the book, and the cover, a hand-crafted brown tree filled with the names of all of the Abundant Life students, staff, and board members on a purple background, got perfect marks. “Making the cover was my absolute favorite part,” Brittany Connell, senior editor, declared. “It was a long and tedious process, but it was so rewarding to see the finished book!” It is easily seen that the Abundant Life yearbook staff put a lot of work and effort into the yearbook, as the book was beautifully crafted. The difficulty of the project was confirmed by another senior editor, Justin Williford. “The yearbook was more of a journey than a project. When we sat down in August, we had tentative plans for what we wanted our book to look like, but over the course of the year, it became very clear just how tentative our plans were. The more our yearbook changed, the more important it became for us to be flexible, and the staff bent over backwards to create a book that none of us expected to turn out so well.” With the success of last year's yearbook, the bar has been set high for the upcoming year, and Abundant Life hopes to create another award-winning book this year.

By Caylee Nickell, ALS junior