CCA Fort Lauderdale’s Top 5 Moments from 2020

Despite the challenges 2020 brought us, it also allowed our school community to experience changes worthy of remembrance. Join us as we reflect and thank God for sustaining Calvary Christian Academy and giving us the opportunity to continue to Make Disciples — rain or shine.

You may be tempted to kick 2020 to the curb and shout “good riddance!,” but let’s take a moment to pause, breathe, and reflect.

It goes without saying that COVID-19 made this year a challenging one for so many. And for some, the word “challenging” is a gross understatement. Maybe you experienced the loss of a job, a loved one, your health, or a dream. If this is the case, we mourn with you, are praying for you, and hope you have experienced God’s comfort, peace, and power that are capable of healing all wounds, no matter how deep.

And yet, despite the negativity the world will probably forever associate with the year “2020”, we can choose to remember how God showed up and carried us. Amidst the hardship, Calvary Christian Academy’s community saw God provide and protect in remarkable ways that deserve to be celebrated!

So before we dive into this new year, let’s take a look at CCA’s top five most impactful moments of 2020, shall we?



5. Transitioning to Distance Learning

 
On March 23, all Calvary Christian Academy students in Pre-K–12th grade began the distance learning journey. They gracefully adapted to the dynamics of an online classroom where they were still able to grow spiritually, academically, and socially.
If we could give everyone trophies for their hard work in making 100% distance learning possible, we certainly would!
Our dedicated faculty and staff worked around the clock to record lessons, offer individualized attention to our families, and adapt their curriculum. Our parents also did an incredible job facilitating remote learning while juggling other responsibilities. If we could give everyone trophies for their hard work in making 100% distance learning possible, we certainly would!

4. Discipling Differently & Digitally With Diligence

 
Even though learning wasn’t happening on-campus for two months, CCA’s faculty and staff were just as committed to drawing our students closer to Jesus and investing in their spiritual and mental well-being during this season. Our Discipleship Team rose to the occasion to ensure that students still had designated times in their day to join alongside their peers virtually to watch chapel services, engage in worship, hear an encouraging and challenging message, and have discussions with their peers.
CCA’s faculty and staff were just as committed to drawing our students closer to Jesus and investing in their spiritual and mental well-being during this season.
When on-campus learning resumed this past August, not only were students able to experience these activities in-person once again in a safe manner, but students who opted to learn online also had a way of participating remotely.

3. Creatively Celebrating Accomplishments

 
Living out our organizational core value of celebration was needed more than ever this year. CCA staff planned creative and safe ways for families to connect with each other to celebrate milestones and make special memories — whether that was through a socially distanced drive-in graduation for our seniors, the personal delivery of lawn signs to honor our graduates, award winners, and teachers, or the various drive-thru parades that were planned to celebrate student accomplishments. Making our families feel loved and cared for was a top priority!
Making our families feel loved and cared for was a top priority!

2. Witnessing Unparalleled Generosity

 
COVID affected many families financially, but we also witnessed record levels of giving and generosity from our community and sponsors. On #GivingTuesdayNow — a day of global giving created as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19 — we raised a total of $41,805!
. . . raised close to $300,000 collectively to support the furthering of our mission here at Calvary Christian Academy.
We are truly grateful for the donors who gave match money and for our community that rose up to meet those matches. Through this, CCA was able to help 67 families in need of tuition assistance during this unpredictable year. We were also able to bless and surprise 11 families this month with the Kaye Taylor Scholarship.

Fundraisers organized by our Advancement Team this year experienced record giving as well. Events like the CCA Auction and Eagle-Thon raised close to $300,000 collectively to support the furthering of our mission here at Calvary Christian Academy. Such generosity allowed us to make improvements that directly benefit our students such as:



1. Welcoming Students and Staff Back to Campus

 
After much prayer, deliberation, and research, CCA’s leadership team decided to re-open campus for the start of the 2020-21 school year, giving parents the option to choose an in-person or online education for their child(ren). More than half a million dollars were invested into safeguarding our campus and accommodating mobile learners through the installation of high-definition cameras in each classroom. We are incredibly grateful that God gave us this opportunity to deliver in-person learning and press on during this season. We sure missed hearing the sounds of laughter and of hustle and bustle in the halls!
We are incredibly grateful that God gave us this opportunity to deliver in-person learning and press on during this season.
 
A phrase we often use here at CCA is: “A Bright Future Awaits”. More than being a catchy phrase, it’s something we truly believe because of the God we serve. We may walk through dark days, but He always illuminates darkness with His everlasting brilliance, as we saw firsthand this year at CCA.

Our prayer is that He would continue to light our path and yours in 2021 as we remain committed to making disciples and developing young leaders who will change this world for Christ.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” –Romans 5:1-5 (ESV)

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