Pine Castle Christian Academy
| Pine Castle Christian Academy | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Established | 1983 |
| Type | private school |
| Affiliation | Independent |
| Dean | Mark Ritchhart |
| Students | 235 (2011) |
| Grades | Pre-K–12 |
| Location | 7101 Lake Ellenor Dr., Orlando, Florida, USA |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Colors | Black, Maroon and Gray |
| Mascot | Harry the Eagle |
| Yearbook | 'Wings' |
| Website | www.pccaeagles.org |
Pine Castle Christian Academy (PCCA) is a small Christian private school founded in Pine Castle, Florida, an area that sits on a border between Belle Isle and Orlando, Florida. Now independent and non-denominational, the school was founded by Pine Castle United Methodist Church under the name Methodist Country Kindergarten; PCCA has been an K-12 academy since 1983, when it received its current name.
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[edit] History
In 1954, Pine Castle United Methodist Church, founded the school as a ministry exclusively for kindergarteners, then called Methodist Country Kindergarten. The kindergarten became an academy in 1983, when the church opened PCCA to first through sixth grade students. Each year after that, it successively introduced one more grade level, until, in 1990, the first senior class graduated.[1]
During the mid 2000s, PCCA grew to over 600 students, about 200 of whom were high schoolers. The academy achieved its first state-level athletic victory in 2006; after three more state titles in the following year, all Pine Castle Christian Academy athletic teams were classified as 2A, except for football, which remained a 1B sport.
During the 2009-2010 school year PCCA was informed that their current facilities were no longer going to be available to them. Instead a public charter school would be renting the facilities and so PCCA had to find new facilities. After searching they found their new facilities which were the former Darden training facilities. A grand opening celebration was held on September 7, 2010 and school started for the 2010-2011 school year on September 8, 2010. Since then they have constructed new softball and football fields on nearby fields to enrich the athletic program.
[edit] Curriculum
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[edit] Extracurricular activities
[edit] Athletics
Pine Castle Christian Academy's football team, led by coach David Langdon, finished its inaugural 2005 football season with an 8-2 record,[2] although it did not make the play-offs. In the 2006 season, Pine Castle again finished with an 8-2 record,[3] this time winning districts.
In the 2005 season, Pine Castle Christian Academy began a contest with its rival, The First Academy, called the "Showdown for the Scepter." The competition PCCA has a girls' volleyball team and, since Spring 2007, a boys' team as well. In 2005, the Pine Castle Christian Academy girls' varsity volleyball team advanced to the Elite Eight and won the District Championship.[4] In 2007, the girls' team won districts and advanced to the regional semi-finals, before losing to Orangewood Christian School.
Both girls' and boys' varsity basketball teams won the Florida state 1A championship in the 2006-07 season. Girls' won with a 38-37 victory over runner-up Malone High School; boys' finished with a 55-46 victory over The Rock. In the 2005-06 season, the boys' varsity basketball team finished 25-4, won Districts, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.[4]
The girls' varsity softball team, in its 2006 season, won the class 1A Florida State Championship, the first state-level championship won by any PCCA team. In 2007, PCCA repeated its victory as the class 1A Florida softball champion.
PCCA's baseball program is coached by former professional baseball player, Joe Oliver. In 2007, the Varsity team won the district for the first time. In 2008, the Varsity won the district championship over TFA, then advanced past Orangewood and TFA again to go to the regional finals, hosted by Providence Christian in Jacksonville. They regional final is a three game set, and the Varsity lost 2 games to 1. Providence went on to win its next two games in the Final Four, ultimately winning the state championship.
Pine Castle Christian Academy's boys' soccer program finished its last season in 2004; in 2005, it was replaced by the football team.
[edit] Theater department
Each year, the Pine Castle Christian Academy Theater Department puts on two plays: a drama in the Spring and a comedy in the Fall. Many plays feature a dinner or desert theater. Since Spring of 2006, each play has also had a "Parent Preview Night," which allows relatives of the actors to view a dress rehearsal free of charge.
Pine Castle is also a part of the SAK Comedy Lab high school improv league, started in the 2005-06 school year. Students meet once per week in the Fall to practice improv games together, then compete in against other schools in the Spring. PCCA won in the league's first season and took second in the 2006-07 competition.
Although the theater department usually produces pre-existing scripts, PCCA's eighth high school play, Welcome to Justice, was an original play by the academy's drama department head at that time, Dan Buck. The showing of Justice was a test-run and last chance for revisions of the script, before it went into full production in professional theater.
The first theater director/teacher at Pine Castle was Dan Buck. Later in his time there a second director, Tess Card, was also hired. Both left at the end of the 2006-07 school year, and in Fall 2007, they were replaced by the department's new head, Caroline Burkhard.
Caroline Burkhard was replaced in the fall of 2008 by Teri Begin, who directed both the fall and spring productions that year. She left after the end of the 2008-2009 school year and was replaced by a part time director. Teri Begin was the last full time theater department head.
List of Plays:
| Year | Spring | Fall |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Annie Jr. | (none) |
| 2003 | All My Sons | The Foreigner |
| 2004 | Judgement at Nuremberg | Harvey |
| 2005 | Dial 'M' for Murder | God's Favorite |
| 2006 | Welcome to Justice | See How They Run |
| 2007 | The Last Night of Ballyhoo | The Odd Couple (female version) |
| 2008 | The Secret Garden[Note 1] |
Spring-2009: Pirates of Penzance
- Notes
- ^ The Spring play for 2008 was originally announced to be Peter Pan. Due to delays in the construction of a new auditorium, the play was replaced with a one act play and a series of monologues and dialogues.
[edit] Clubs and organizations
| Active Groups | |
|---|---|
| Spanish Club | |
| National Honor Society, Eagle Chapter | |
| Spanish National Honor Society | |
| Junior National Honor Society | |
| Improv Team (with SAK Comedy Lab) | Culinary Club |
| Student Government | |
| Band | |
| Bowling Club | |
| Art Club | |
| Discontinued | |
| Seinfeld Club | |
| German Club | |
| Robotics Club | |
| Book Club |
Quill and Scroll Society
Angler's Society (fishing club)
[edit] Notable faculty
Stephen Edwards II- Founder of the Quickies
[edit] Former headmasters and principals
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[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 28°28′23″N 81°21′57″W / 28.47301°N 81.365944°W
