Fall 2009 newsletter - Rehoboth Christian School

RCS Alum WinsNew Debate Team“Best in Class” Wins Trophies!It is an election year and what more fitting course to addRebecca Begay, graduate of Rehoboth, aswell as a former high school art teacherhere, won “Best of Classification” at theinternationally acclaimed Santa Fe Marketfor her hand-crafted tufa casting jewelry.It was quite an honor which she receivedon August 22 nd of this year. She andhusband Darryl work together usingthis unique process in making Indianjewelry.Prior to this award, in April,Rebecca was also awardeda “Fellowship” from theSouthwestern Association forIndian Art. She received an award of $5,000 to be used for her artworkbusiness. There were only six winners in all, and Rebecca was the onlyNavajo recipient. Congratulations Rebecca Begay!The tufa casting creates beautiful jewelry by designing and skillfullycarving the piece within a stone. Then, molten lead is poured intothe carved mold, and a lead blank is pulled from the mold. That leadblank is sand-cast enabling a unique piece of silver or gold jewelry to beproduced.But, the piece is not yet finished. Slag and remnants from the castingmust be removed. The piece is stamped,adornments are added, as wellas gemstones such asturquoise or coral.Finally, the patinais added and thepiece is carefullypolished until abeautiful pieceof art is created.to the Rehoboth High School Curriculum than debate. Thisexciting new class is being taught by Mrs. Becca Donkersloot whohas set a goal for her students to learn how to express their viewsin a coherent and educated manner. She notes that debate is notan ability people are born with but rather is an art that should bepracticed and perfected. She believes that in order for a personto be successful in our competitive world, one must know how toexpress oneself clearly and appropriately.Mrs. Donkersloot also stated that debate has a longhistory in democratic societies. In ancient Greece people put greatimportance on public speaking. The public forums ensured thepopulation would get a voice in matters of state. If a person did notknow how to debate his views, he was laughed out of the meeting.Because of this, people took lessons, studied the greats, and wrotebooks on speech. One of Aristotle’s greatest works, Rhetoric, is onthe art of public discourse. Clearly, the ability to express one’s viewswell is still important in our democratic society today so our debateclass is a very important addition to Rehoboth.The ability to express oneself well can only help empowerstudents to interact with confidence in classroom discussions also.We hope that they will be much better equipped to give their ownopinions and to question views expressed in many different contextsnow and throughout life. Being able to evaluate what one hears andreads in all the media we have today is an important skill.Though our students are just beginners they have alreadydemonstrated that they are indeed gifted debaters. In their firstcompetition last month they earned two second places, a fourth anda fifth. What a treat to see two shiny trophies on display already.The debate students are now inspired to work even harder to addmore awards to their newly started collection. A special thankyou to you Rehoboth supporters for making this great beginningpossible.Congratulations debaters: Best wishes for further successthis season!Rebecca iscontinuing in herjewelry art creationswhile raising three boys. Formore information about her art you may explore her website at: www.redstreakdesigns.com4New Rehoboth debate team bringshome trophies!