Fifty years ago… Cottage Hill Baptist School began with Cottage Hill Baptist Church members becoming aware our city needed a Christian institution to teach its young people the saving grace of Christ.

In 1959, a committee of CHBC church members was formed to study the possibility of the church starting a school. At the time, the Mobile County Public School System was experiencing overcrowding and financial difficulties. On Wednesday, December 14, 1960 the committee unanimously voted to form a grade school.

On September 7, 1961, Cottage Hill Baptist School opened its doors of education for the first time. The first two teachers were Mrs. Mary Waite, who taught first grade, and Mrs. Balzi, who taught the Kindergarten class. Most parents today would be jealous of the first tuition, which was fifteen dollars a month for Kindergarten, twenty dollars a month for Grade School, and a ten dollar registration fee. The school also provided all of the supplies.

Every year CHBS grew and added more and more grades. On Nov. 15, 1997, the ground was broken for a new high school. In the 1999-2000 school year it was completed and the high school students were moved to the new campus.

Fifty years later, CHCA is still going strong and  continuing to teach students about Christ. What once began as a glimpse of a vision has now become a reality for more than 500 current students and many more former students. By CHCA student, Caitlin Harbin

Mrs. Hughes' and Mrs. Taylor's 4th grade class presented their annual chapel program on "Famous Alabamians" on Wednesday, January 25. Click for photos.

Congratulations to Abby Jett, 9th grade, for winning the Mobile Bay Area Parenting magazine's writing contest. Out of all the participating schools and participating students in the Mobile Area, her paper on peer pressure was chosen by a panel of well respected judges. Her paper was brilliant, insightful, and very deserving of this honor. Her article, along with her picture, will be featured in the Mobile Bay Area Parenting magazine. Please read this outstanding paper; you will not regret it, for it is a great read. In fact, all of the students from Mrs. Dickinson's Journalism class who competed in the contest did well, with all of their papers advancing to the final round of judging, and two of their papers made it to the top three. Congratulations Abby, Mrs. Dickinson, and all of the journalism students! We are so proud of you! Students in the high school Journalism class include: Taylor Perkins, Mary Richardson, Delaney Grizzle, Taylor Kent, Rebecca Smith, Caitlin Harbin and Abby Jett. By CHCA student, Caitlin Harbin

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On January 18, 2012, the Church Campus held the annual Geography Bee for the middle school students. The finalists for 6th grade were Joseph Collier, Matthew Givens, Olivia Moore, and Ian Singley. For 7th grade, finalists included Ethan Mercer, Brandon Oliver, Zac Smith, and Peyton Warren. Lastly, for our 8th grade, Alex Berwick, Matthew King, Ibby Morris, and Zac Stokes were the qualifiers. The students were asked a series of challenging questions in their battle to become the Geography Bee Champion. The winner was 7th grader, Zac Smith. Runner up for the title was Ibby Morris and 3rd place went to Alex Berwick, both representing our 8th grade. Everyone did a fantastic job! By CHCA student, Abby Jett

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On Wednesday, January 11, the Church Campus held its annual Spelling Bee. Ibby Morris, 8th grade, was the winner overall and will move on to the Mobile County Spelling Bee in February. Congratulations Ibby! The Top Spellers for each grade level, 4th-8th, will also move on to the AISA District Spelling Bee on January 24. Those students are: 4th grade Victoria Lawrence, 5th grade Caleb Hudson, 6th grade Garrett Woodruff, 7th grade Zac Smith, and 8th grade Ibby Morris.

All the students participating in this year's Spelling Bee did an outstanding job! The grade level winners were:
1st Grade-Grizzle
1- Lana Chestang 2-Ben Nilsen

1st Grade-McDaniel
1-Tyler Thomas 2-Damian Lee

2nd Grade-Wolfe
1-Faith Daniels 2-Mehrain Haque

2nd Grade-Chambers
1-Katelyn Jones 2-Anna Cate Keenum

3rd Grade-Overman
1-Caroline Noland 2-Wilson Winter

3rd Grade-Jordan
1-Janae' Wilson 2-Olivia Burleson

4th Grade-Taylor
1-Victoria Lawrence 2-Alyssa Cena

4th Grade-Hughes
1-Anne Morgan Swearingen 2-Olivia Johnston

5th Grade-Blight
1-Caeleb Hudson 2-Ian Lewis

5th Grade-Henderson
1-Alyssa LaCoste 2-Bradford Penton

6th Grade
Trent Martin, Garrett Woodruff

7th Grade
Zachary Smith, Phillip Vo

8th Grade
Ibby Morris, Daniel Hill

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Kudos to one of our CHCA mothers, Kim Williams, and our own K5 teacher, Janet Sells, for competing in the First Light Marathon together. They each completed 26.2 miles in 97% humidity!

The members of the 2011-2012 CHCA Tennis Teams have been selected. The boy's team consists of Nick Dixon, Ben Hall, William Hayford, Ethan Johnson, Justin McDaniel, William Monach, Alex Newell, Zak Sorel, Brinson Straub, and Chris Wilkins. The girl's team is Haley Bennett, Tia Berry, Alex Berwick, Claire Blacksher, Shelby Boykin, Megan Buchanan Brittney Buker, Katie Hayford, Audrey Johnson, Sarah Johnson, KayLyn Sayers, Kirsten Sayers, Caitlyn Sells, and Kana Thompson.

The members of the 2011-2012 CHCA Softball Team have been selected. They are Christine Bartlett, Skylar Brasell, Caitlyn Crockett, Rachel Fleck, Molly Fortner, Caroline Franklin, Caitlin Harbin, Kaylen Hyatt, Anna Kennedy, Hannah Poiroux, Jillian Poiroux, Kailey Beth Smith, Anna Strachan, Reily Surgenor, and Adrianna Wallace. Their coach is Coach Hailey Rascoe.

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Shirley Grizzle is one of the fabulous first grade teachers, here at Cottage Hill. She's taught here for 8 years, and loves every minute of it. At the end of the day, Mrs. Grizzle goes home to her husband, Eric, and her daughters, Delaney and Ashlyn. Her girls have gone to Cottage Hill since Mrs. Grizzle started teaching here. Delaney is a Junior at the high school campus and Ashlyn is a Freshman. Mr. Grizzle works for Pilot Catastrophe and spends his days at work climbing and measuring roofs. Mrs. Grizzle enjoys shopping and spending time with her family. Her favorite color is pink and her favorite ice cream is Mint Chocolate Chip. She attends Cottage Hill Baptist Church with her family. Mrs. Grizzle not only aims to teach her students math and language, but also about the love of God. She says that if her students could walk out of her class, having only learned one thing, she hopes it would be about God's love. By CHCA student, Delaney Grizzle.

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Akron, Ohio is famous for many things such as the annual Hamburger Festival. Also the popular television Glee is set there, but most importantly it is the birth place of our very own Mrs. Perkins. Mrs. Perkins has been teaching at Cottage Hill for five years, but she has taught school for twelve years total. She graduated from Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina. She has been married to her husband, Dave Perkins, for 22 years, and has two wonderful children, Taylor and Andrew Perkins. She has taught a variety of subjects including computer applications, act prep, Bible, and high school mathematics. However she enjoys teaching accounting the most. One of the most important Mrs. Perkins has learned is that "I can't do it on my own. I definitely need God as my Strength. She has also learned that you have to be flexible while teaching. Mrs. Perkins with her positive attitude and loving spirit has been a wonderful addition to CHCA's family. By CHCA student, Mary Richardson.

We are excited to announce that the CHCA Church Campus has begun offering ala carte items to enhance our lunch program. A few items offered will be sandwiches, fresh made salads, chips, little Debbie snacks, pudding cups, fresh fruit, fresh vegetable snacks, fruit cups and other nutritious selections.

The $4.00 plate lunch option will remain the same consisting of a hot entre two side items, a fruit and milk, orange juice or water and fruit punch is offered to 6-8th grades. There are no substitutions allowed on the plate lunch.

Current lunch cards will be honored with each punch being $4. New cards will consist of 40 $1 punches and 20 $ .50 punches for a total card cost of $50.

Church Campus Lunch Menu Prices

On January 4, 2012,  Mrs. Lisa Brodie visited the students at the Church Campus during the weekly chapel service.  Mrs. Brodie felt God’s call on her life from a very young age to do something to help the people of Africa.  She started an organization, Dig Deep Give Well, that helps to provide clean drinking water to villages throughout Africa.  Our students learned that many villagers must travel up to seven miles just to get their daily water supply.  This water is usually the village’s source for bathing, washing clothes, caring for animals, and drinking; therefore, it is a leading cause of disease and illness.  Dig Deep Give Well digs wells in some of Africa’s most troubled areas.  Mrs. Brodie’s organization also uses this mission to help spread the good news of the “living water” that is available through Jesus Christ.
There are two main ways that you can get involved:

• GIVE – Help us reach our goal of raising $1,000
• Armbands – $1.00 each
• T-shirts – range in price from $10 - $25; these shirts are approved for out-of-uniform Fridays
• Bring in change to place in the water buckets on campus.
• PRAY
• Pray for this organization and those affected by its efforts every time you wear your armband or t-shirt.

Our middle school Student Council is sponsoring the effort to contribute to this organization.  Please see the order form for ordering information.  We will be collecting loose change each morning as well.  Please join us as we seek to share God’s love with the people of Africa.  You can learn more by visiting the website at  DigDeepGiveWell.org.

ACT Review Classes are available through the University of South Alabama and will begin on January 14. Click for details.

Classes are also available through Peggy Varnado.
ACT Review Class Flyer
Registration Form

Through Spirit and Pride, an opportunity has been made available for our families to purchase CHCA t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, polos, and more online and through orders. Information was given to your students on Friday. Extra order forms are available in each school office. If you would like to purchase online, go to www.spiritandpride.com and use our school code of 124849. You can place orders using order forms through the end of school with no extra charges. Orders can also be placed online through the end of school, but starting in February, online orders will be shipped to your home and be charged shipping.

A project has been launched to teach our students more about our school and the students who attended here in the past 50 years. Little paper Warriors, colored by our K4 and K5, are being sent to past students of CHCA. We have ask them to take a picture of their Warrior with them at their work, with their family, or something that makes their life special. They will then send us a the picture and a few sentences about their life now and then stick the letter and Warrior in the mail to someone they know who also attended CHCA. We are looking forward to seeing our "Little Warriors" travel the globe and hearing from so many past students! We'll be sharing these stories in the Warrior News, on our website and they will be posted on a wall on each campus for the students to see. Stay tuned! Also, if you are a former student and want to be part of this project, email Melissa Dickinson at DickinsonM@chbss.org.

There will be an Alumni Baseball Game on Saturday Feb. 18th, at 12pm. For more details, contact Chris Brazell at brazellc@chbss.org.

The CHCA Athletic Department is looking to replace the team chairs for basketball games. The new all steel, cushioned chairs picked out will be decked out with the school logo and also provide a great look for our sidelines. The chairs will cost CHCA $100 each. If you or your company is interested in sponsoring a chair, please contact Coach Adam Thomas or Melissa Dickinson at 660-2427. For those that sponsor a chair, we would like to put a name plaque on the chair indicating who made the contribution to provide the chair for the team. More details can be provided by Coach Thomas or Mrs. Dickinson.

The Athletic Department is also looking to refurbish the gym floor. Refurbishing an athletic court like CHCA's, is recommended every 10 years. CHCA is going on 12 years and now making plans to improve our floor. If you are in this business or have a contact for someone that is, please contact Coach Adam Thomas.

Team Chair Sponsorship Form

This year, Cottage Hill Christian Academy will celebrate its 50th anniversary year! Founded in 1961, our school has grown because of the tremendous support from the families and friends of Cottage Hill Christian Academy. What a milestone!

We all know that a private school education comes with a cost. We know that our parents carefully count the cost before making a final decision each year. This is why Cottage Hill Christian Academy is so committed to using each tuition dollar wisely, investing each one carefully into the educational experience of your child.
The challenge for the teachers and administration comes when we have other needs that are not covered by current tuition funding. Needs such as providing new technology for teachers and staff, purchasing new science lab tables, purchasing colorful, modern playground equipment, and helping our families with tuition when jobs are lost and family finances make it impossible for children to remain at our school. These needs cause our budget to go beyond the tuition income, as with all private schools. I am committed to developing the school to support our ability to provide these programs and needs, but I really need your help.

Will you prayerfully consider a beginning-of-year contribution to Cottage Hill Christian Academy? Your tax-deductible gift is a gift to our students...helping to subsidize their education with your expression of love straight from the body of Christ. Your gift, large or small, will help us this year and will be greatly appreciated by every member of our staff. You can give online, or if you would like to discuss giving to one of our planned projects, please call me for an appointment at 634-2513 or call our new Director of Development, Ms. Ruth Bealle at the same number. We would consider it a privilege to meet with you to discuss how you can be a part of the future God is providing at Cottage Hill Christian Academy.

Thank you for your continued support of our students. Please remember to support us in prayer every single day. Let's work together to make 2011-12, our 50th anniversary year, the best school year ever! The students thank you, the teachers thank you, and so do I!

Jim McMillan
Head of School


Donation Card
Other Ways to Give/Support the School