Blog

Award-winning words

High School

St. Philip history teacher Kyra Rabbit gave her students an assignment. There was no typing involved, no Chromebooks, no final draft due date – just a pencil, a sheet of loose-leaf paper, and one class period. They were to write about how their Catholic education’s...

The constant aid of our schools’ angels

Elementary School, High School, Middle School

Angels are rarely seen, which may explain why most BCACS families don’t know our schools have a whole host of angels. They move in and out of a small office in the St. Joseph Parish Center staffed by a single employee. It is the Battle Creek Area Catholic Schools...

Catching up on our ABCs

Elementary School

Crayons to College and Career is in its second year thanks to a renewal of a Calhoun Intermediate School District grant. This means the ABCs of Character is back in our elementary school. “In the education world right now there is a lot of talk about how it’s a...

Studying African-American history without a textbook

High School

Early on February 7th, the entire student body of St. Philip High School gathered onto two charter buses and headed to Detroit. After a brief tour of Wayne State University and lunch, they walked to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, where the...

It takes a village to create a vision

Elementary School, High School, Middle School

It takes a village to raise a child and BCACS is one great village. Now our children need that village to create a vision. “We all want to set our kids up for success and to do that we have to constantly re-evaluate what we are doing and how we can improve,” said Lisa...

When life gives you lemons…

Elementary School

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when life gives our St. Joseph transitional-kindergarten and four-year-old preschool students a worthy cause, they sell lemonade. And lollipops. “The Lemonade Stand is an annual event,” TK and preschool teacher Aimee...

Snow and the seeds of understanding

Middle School

St. Joseph Middle School social studies teacher Laurie Murphy was thinking about her students while talking with her daughter, BCACS alumna Kellie Murphy, during Christmas Break. Kellie is the sports and wellness manager for the Special Olympics state office. “I told...

St. Philip students are involved – 100%

High School

St. Philip is a small school with a big heart which created a constant problem. “We have all of these kids who want to be involved in clubs,” St. Philip student services director Kyra. Rabbitt said. “In the past, there was just not enough time in the...

A real teacher – 30 years and counting

Elementary School

St. Joseph fifth grade teacher Linda Hamel has been teaching for 30 years. She remembers her first day well. It was January 4, 1988, and she was sitting with her new fifth-grade class at St. Mary’s in Kalamazoo waiting for Mass to start. “I was so nervous,” Mrs. Hamel...

“It made me happy inside.”

Elementary School

BCACS parents Graham Smith and Amy Young wanted their children, first-grader Ward and preschooler Rafferty, to understand the spirit of giving. “We are very fortunate,” Ms. Young said. “It is important that we show our kids that many others are not and since we are...