Covenant Day School

Article and photos by Cyma Shapiro with the Matthews Beacon. Full article can be found at https://www.matthewsbeacon.com/news/2018/12/7/matthews-gives-back-with-covenant-day-school

On Monday, at 9 a.m., 68 students from Covenant Day School in Matthews, and a few of the school's teachers went to Target with the sole purpose of purchasing items for those in need during this holiday season. As in previous years of the CDS/Matthews Police Department partnership, they were accompanied by School Resource Officer Don Warren, who previously handed out approximately 40 cards identifying the wish lists of unnamed local children in need of gifts this season.

As part of the annual Matthews Gives Back program, the seventh graders were divided into small groups and assigned a child to buy gifts for.

Covenant Day's Restore 525 team of students and faculty traveled to Haiti this summer and over fall break to continue the process of building a sustainable aquaponics farm to help respond to the growing hunger need in Haiti. The Restore 525 team partnered with students and adults in the Mission of Hope International community to construct a new aquaponic system location, two 1,000-gallon fish tanks, an outdoor classroom with picnic tables, and a school garden. They also helped to run educational aquaponic camps.

The concept of "Two Worlds, One Family," came to life both on and off the stage during this year's memorable performance of Tarzan. More than sixty middle school and high school theater students joined together in October as one big family to create a first in Covenant Day theater.

"When I look at the unique gifts God has given to Covenant Day, the opportunity to integrate young and old is an amazing privilege," said Theater Director Casey Starkey. "I wanted this to be a year of unifying everyone."